Tickling People’s Ears Is No Laughing Matter

How do you feel when someone pays you a compliment? If it’s genuine, it probably makes you feel good. Maybe really good. We like hearing nice things said about us, especially if we know they’re sincere. But sometimes, even if we sense it’s just flattery, it can still massage our egos. We might call it having our ears tickled – telling us what we’d like to hear.

 

In most instances there’s nothing wrong with that, although Proverbs 27:21 does offer these words of caution: “The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the praise he receives.” Perhaps another way of saying this is that it’s not just what we hear people say about us, but also how we respond. If their words go to our heads and we start thinking too highly of ourselves, we’re entering dangerous territory.

 

But there’s another, perhaps more insidious form of “ear tickling” that’s going on today, especially in the realm broadly defined as evangelicalism. Many denominations, individual congregations, and even some seminaries are “repackaging” biblical teachings and doctrines so they’re not regarded offensive. Because in our politically correct world, lots of folks don’t like being confronted with truth, especially (to borrow the term) inconvenient truth. They strongly prefer the ear-tickling approach.

 

Words like “sin,” “hell,” “judgment,” and “condemnation” are being banished from many pulpits. Pastors don’t want people sitting in the pews – their “audiences” – to feel guilty or bad or, dare we say it, offended. It’s like they’re trying to “rebrand” Jesus, making Him and His teachings more palatable for 21^st century consciousness. Even though the Scriptures describe Jesus Christ as “‘A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.’ They stumble because they disobey the word” (1 Peter 2:8).

 

Rather than teaching how Christ and the Word of God should shape culture, some apparently have concluded the culture should shape perspectives on Jesus and the Bible. Questions of morality, ethics, spirituality, even life and death, are being answered according to the prevailing whims of the media, entertainment, education, politics, and other elements of popular “thinking.”

 

Thank the Lord, there remain churches where pastors speak biblical truth boldly, unapologetically, and as compassionately as possible, without watering down the gospel message. I’m a member of one of those. But with many congregations and denominations bleeding members like spiritual hemophiliacs, they’ve decided a more “tolerant” Jesus will stem the flow.

 

This is hardly a new phenomenon. Writing to his protégé Timothy, the apostle Paul declared, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires” (2 Timothy 4:3). Another translation expresses it this way: “to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.”

 

Ear tickling wasn’t conceived in the 20^th or 21^st centuries, however. It was happening many centuries before Paul arrived on the scene. In the Old Testament prophetic book we read, “They say to the seers, ‘Stop seeing visions!’ and to the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy to us the truth! Speak to us pleasant words; prophesy illusions’” (Isaiah 30:10). 

 

Reminds me of the fellow in the country church who approached the new minister and informed him, “Preacher, we don’t mind your preachin’. But now you’ve gone and started meddlin’!”

 

I get it. I lived much of my early adult life trying to keep God at an arm’s length, inviting Him closer only when I felt I needed His help. The straight-forward precepts of the Scriptures can cramp our style in how we’d like to live. As an old friend said so well, “If sin wasn’t any fun, we wouldn’t want to do it.”

 

Unfortunately for those who want a kind of compromising Christ, the Scriptures are adamant that redefining the Lord isn’t an option available to them. As Hebrews 13:8 reminds us, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” The God of the Old Testament and the God revealed through Jesus in the New Testament isn’t to be remolded into our image.

We find this ominous warning in Jude 1:17-18 which rings all too familiar today: “…remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, ‘In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.’ These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.”

 

Writing to Timothy, Paul exhorted him not to bend to the pressures of culture and other influences: “Hold on to the pattern of sound teaching you have heard from me, with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus…. You therefore, my child, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard me say among many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be qualified to teach others as well” (2 Timothy 1:13, 2:1-2). 

What about those of us who see no need for “reimagining” Jesus and His Word, who believe more people need to hear God’s truth, as the Bible clearly presents it, and less ear-tickling talk? We’re not likely to change the mindsets of the “marketers” within the Church. But we can do as Paul admonished believers in ancient Corinth: “Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:58).  

Navigating a World of Promises – and Broken Promises

“I promise.” “Pinky swear.” “You have my word.” How many times have you heard assurances like these? And how many times in your experience have such promises been violated? There once was a time when people honestly would say their word was their bond. No need for formal contracts or commitments in writing – a promise was solemn and certain. But not anymore, right? 

Where do we start? It’s too easy to pick on politicians, because it seems their job description includes making promises they have no intention of keeping. Reminds me of the old perfume commercial with the slogan, “Promise her anything, but give her Arpege.”

 

But the promises made/promises broken scenario is hardly confined to the so-called “hallowed halls of government.” Whether it’s your neighborhood mechanic, the contractor you’ve chosen to do work on your house, a salesperson you consult about a major purchase, or even longtime friends, we have all known times when they made promises that were never fulfilled.

 

Whenever the issue of broken promises comes to mind, I think of the 1974 song, “Cat’s in the Cradle,” by Harry Chapin. It’s about a little boy asking his dad to play and spend time with him, only to receive empty promises:

"’When you coming home, dad?’ ‘I don't know when.
But we'll get together then,
You know we'll have a good time then.’”

 

“Then” in this song never comes. In fact, the little boy in the song grows up to be just like his dad: a promise maker and a promise breaker.

 

Someone once observed, however, whenever we point a finger at someone, four fingers are pointing back at ourselves. Each of us – probably more times than we’d care to admit – has been the promise breaker. As Jesus told a group of self-righteous religious leaders, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7).

 

The earliest time I can remember was as an adolescent, maybe about 10 years old. I was staying at my grandfather’s home on vacation. I’d befriended a boy my age in the neighborhood; I think his name was Billy. He was having a birthday party and I had agreed to come. But I faced a dilemma when a family friend offered to take me to a bookstore and buy me a gift, since my birthday was just a few days away. 

 

Party? Bookstore? Tough choice, but I remember selfishly choosing the bookstore and not even telling Billy I wasn’t coming to his party. I’m sure, if he’s still living, Billy has long since forgotten how I reneged on my promise – but obviously I haven’t. That’s not the only promise I’ve broken during my lifetime, but it’s one I’ll never forget.

 

Here’s the good news: When it comes to broken promises, there’s one exception. The Lord God is the one true, never failing Promise Keeper. In fact, His promises are actually covenants.

 

Promises can be made without any legal obligation or validity. Covenants, however, are legally binding agreements. Even more important, as one writer said, “An unconditional covenant can be defined as a sovereign act of God whereby He unconditionally obligates Himself to bring to pass specific promises, blessings, and conditions for the covenanted people.”

 

For proof of God’s unwavering promises and covenants we can consider the nation of Israel. Historian Barbara Tuchman once observed that Israel is, “the only nation in the world that is governing itself in the same territory, under the same name, and with the same religion and same language as it did 3,000 years ago.”

 

Dating back to Jacob, the son of Isaac whom God later renamed Israel, the Jewish people have miraculously survived 400 years of slavery, the killing of six million Jews during the Holocaust, and myriad other forms of persecution and opposition. The Promised Land, which the Lord gave to the Israelites following their Egyptian captivity and 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, is essentially the same territory occupied by the nation of Israel today.

 

Even better than that, God’s covenant promises are available today to anyone who calls upon the name of Jesus Christ in faith. “For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance – now that He has died as a ransom to see them free from the sins committed under the first covenant” (Hebrews 9:15).

 

The “first covenant” refers to the Ten Commandments and all the other laws God established for the Israelites to obey. Repeatedly, however, they failed to keep these laws, in many cases forgetting or ignoring them completely. Hence a new covenant, one of grace – His unmerited favor – made possible only through Jesus’ atoning, once-and-for-all death on the cross.

 

As 2 Corinthians 3:5-6 declares, “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”

 

We need not strive to be “good enough” for God’s love and favor. His acceptance is solely on the basis of faith, not according to the things we do and the things we don’t: “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).

Which brings us back to being confident the Lord will never fail to keep His promise to us. Galatians 3:18 states, “For if the inheritance is based on law, it is no longer based on a promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by means of a promise.” 

Add to that the assurance of Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever,” and we can have complete assurance that while everyone else we know – including ourselves – breaks promises, God never will.

Of All the Opinions Only One Really Counts

These days everyone seems to have an opinion. I’ve often said, being one myself, that journalists have an opinion on everything – whether they know anything about it or not. And we’re being bombarded with these opinions, often nestled indistinguishably in the reporting of news.

 

But journalists are hardly alone among the opinionated. As the holidays approach, we’re reminded that when families gather for feasts and festivities, it’s often wise to hold opinions to ourselves if we’re to avoid familial civil wars.

 

Our schools – whether at the elementary, middle school or high school levels, and especially in colleges and universities, our institutions of higher learning – increasingly deliver as much opinion as academic curricula. Students at many schools are being exposed to as much ideology as they are geology, sociology and biology.

 

Opinions abound, of course, at every level of politics. Sadly, it seems you can’t support a particular party without fully accepting its opinions and biased perspectives. It used to be we could go to the movies or watch TV to be entertained. Now, story lines are littered with thinly disguised opinions on virtually every area of social conduct and discourse.

 

So, with all these opinions flying around us and infiltrating our minds, which ones are we to believe? I have some opinions on that – ha, ha! But if you’ve been reading my posts for any length of time, you’re aware that in my view ultimately there’s only one opinion that counts: God’s. Which is why, no matter which topic I choose to write about, the question I always ask is, “What does the Bible say about that?”

I know there are those who would disagree, but I’m convinced that on many matters the Scriptures are unequivocal in what they say. For instance, they’re very clear on the uses and abuses of money and material things. (I’ll write more about that another time.) The Bible offers straight-forward guidelines about relationships – within marriage; outside of marriage; parents and children; friendships; bosses, employees, coworkers and subordinates; and even strangers.

 

The prevailing social culture might – and often does – look at issues in stark contrast to what the Scriptures present, but cultural trends come and go. God is eternal and unchanging: “Jesus Christ is the same today and yesterday and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

 

Another verse from the same New Testament book tells us of the Bible’s very personal impact on those who read it and honestly consider what it has to say: “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

 

Perhaps my favorite passage about the intrinsic value of the Word of God is 2 Timothy 3:16-17, which declares, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

 

The Bible doesn’t speak specifically about some topics. Take, for example, texting while driving or getting behind the wheel while intoxicated. However, its principles do address it, I believe. We read, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13) and operating a motor vehicle while distracted or impaired and getting into an accident that results in someone’s death is tantamount to murder. 

 

The rest of the Ten Commandments cover a wide range of human behavior, including theft, sex outside of the marriage bond, lying and being dishonest, envying what others have, having respect for parents and those in authority, and especially our relationship with God. 

 

Much of the Bible is effectively elaborating on what Jesus regarded as the two greatest commandments: “'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40).

 

I’ve yet to find an issue or topic of major consequence the Lord does not address in His Word, directly or indirectly. So, while I try to listen to and consider the viewpoints of others, even those that differ drastically from my own, it’s settled in my mind that God’s opinion is the only one that really matters. And that serves as the underlying motive for what I write.