Reprove, rebuke, exhort
2 Timothy 4:1-4; As followers of Christ, we should not be timid about questioning (not criticizing) our pastors when there is something in the church we feel is confusing or contrary to Scripture.
“I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 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, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”
2 Timothy 4:1-4 NASB1995
Today’s verses come from the last chapter of the second epistle to Timothy, and I have personally found verses 3 and 4 (beginning with “for the time will come…”) to demonstrate the condition of many modern churches. The Apostle Paul was writing to his student and friend Timothy, who was on a mission for the early church. This epistle is often thought to have been Paul’s last letter, written just before his death as a martyr.
I found God’s choice of these verses to be particularly powerful in light of a decision Barb and I made to leave our current church and search for a new one. I won’t explain why we left, only to say that we did so after a great deal of soul-searching, prayer, and concern for the long-term viability of that church.
1st and 2nd Timothy (and also Titus) are epistles written to offer advice to those who were leaders in the newborn Christian church. Here, Paul charges Timothy to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” — sound advice for any pastor. But we felt that in light of some decisions made by our pastoral leadership over the past year or so that we needed to make a private emailed “rebuke” to our pastors as well-meaning, concerned, and loving congregants.
Was it right for us to question our pastors? Maybe not. They do an amazing job of preaching the Gospel, they are most definitely not sinners, and they are doing His work in Latin America as well as the Front Range of Colorado. In other words, they are pastors beyond reproach, and in retrospect, perhaps we should have just walked away silently.
Those of you who have read Heaven On Wheels for some time know that we left a Lutheran church in 2019. In that case, our letter to the pastor was more a rebuke of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) than of the pastor and specific church we attended. That synod had made a public pronouncement that was contrary to Gospel, and was (and still is) condoning sin. So perhaps Paul’s instructions should be — in very rare cases after prayerful consideration — used in the reverse direction as well, from congregant to pastor.
The ELCA Lutheran church is also a very good example of what Paul says in 2 Timothy 3-4: “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, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.”
Sound doctrine was thrown out the window, and the synod did its best to get pastors to tickle the ears of their flocks. They trashed the truth, and some ELCA churches have even turned to promoting non-Christian mythology. I never realized that Paul was a prophet, too! Our reading and understanding of God’s word at that time was rudimentary, but it was clear to us that the ELCA — and perhaps our most recent pastors at a non-denominational church as well — were trying to “accumulate for themselves followers in according to their own desires” (paraphrasing 2 Timothy 4:4).
In both cases, the churches (all of the ELCA and this non-denominational church) are losing membership. Sure, I’m not a seminary-trained pastor, but even I can discern in God’s word that growing the body of Christ — the church — is His wish:
“…And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Acts 2:47 NASB1995
“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” John 12:32 NASB1995
“And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number,” Acts 5:14 NASB1995
“So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.” Acts 9:31 NASB1995
Perhaps people leaving some of these churches and moving on to others is a good sign; that believers are focused on the true eternal mission of the Church rather than the temporary and earthly short-term goals of a denomination or pastor.
Well, this ended up being a bit of a rambling look at the first few verses of 2 Timothy, but hopefully I made my points. 1) As followers of Christ, we should not be timid about questioning (not criticizing) our pastors when there is something we feel is confusing or contrary to Scripture, and 2) If the church is not growing, it is dying, and that’s not what the Lord wants.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Father in Heaven, we pray that You give us discernment to know when our church leaders are “tickling our ears” and that You find it acceptable when we speak the truth to these leaders in love. They, like all humans, are fallible and can let the temptations of popularity and ego distort Your eternal Word and plans for us. Let our words, shaped with love, kindness, and wisdom, be a door to open more unity and understanding in Your Church. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, AMEN.