Thoughts From 2Timothy 3 - Part 1

  But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. 2Tim. 3:1-5

" I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—  not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.  But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? God will judge those outside. 'Expel the wicked person from among you'.” 1Cor.5:9-13

         I included this passage from Corinthians because I think it's essential to the understanding of this passage in 2 Timothy 3. At first glance it looks like Paul is saying that as time goes on, the "world" will get more "worldly" and that is certainly what we are seeing today. However, since Paul says in verse 5, "have nothing to do with those people", according to 1Cor. 5, he isn't meaning "the world" but the church. This passage in 2Timothy 3 has to do with the church! How is that even possible that the church could get this bad? Are we seeing this today?

       Working backwards, does the Church have power? I'm not talking "the moral majority" type of power, we saw that kind of power in the middle ages, but the power to change the hearts of people that comes from a fresh fire of the Holy Spirit. Is there such repentance and revival in the church that like with John the Baptist, people would be drawn just to see what's going on? Or are we seeing more and more scandals associated with the church and that's why eyes are turned in our direction?

      I'm just going to pick on one person here as a prototype - Pete Hegseth head of USA department of defense (war). He claims to be a Christian yet is on his third marriage, been accused of public intoxication, has had multiple affairs and been accused of sexual abuse and rape, has tattoos supporting the crusades, Christian nationalism, and Jesus. He has a $3.2 million home. He describes his Christian faith "more out of diligent habit than deep conviction." Ok, I said I'd pick on one person but let me mention another, Paula White, the spiritual adviser to the president. She is on her 3rd marriage, preaches the prosperity gospel, compares Trump to Jesus, has been addicted to pain medicine, been accused of fraud and running a Ponzi scheme, and been an adulterer. These are two of the most public "Christians" today.

      The church needs a revival. We need mass repentance and a call to obedience. We need to turn to Jesus rather than the allure of the world's things. But most of all we need to die to self which all these sins arise from, the love of self. That's where Paul starts here, "people will be lovers of themselves." When John the Baptist was at the peak of his fame, Jesus came on the scene and John's response was "follow Him, don't follow me. He must increase and I must decrease." Is that mindset where the Church is heading? I don't think so.