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“And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you…” (2 Peter 2:3a)

Gone are those days where a person who wanted to rob you had the decency of wearing a balaclava and for his dignity, his conduct was in such a manner that he would wait in the bushes or around a street corner at night in order to carry out his evil purposes. Today that is not the case. You get robbed right in broad daylight by a man who is well known and who has no shame of carrying a Bible. Not only does this unscrupulous devil’s advocate have the guts to carry the Bible in public but he is bold enough to open it, read it to you and make damnable claims about it. If you don’t know your Bible, you will sure go down and the “Bible Crook” will walk all over you. Peter warned the brethren in his days that there were false prophets in the olden days and there sure will be false teachers among the brethren. This warning is very relevent for us today because what I choose to call the “Bible Crooks,” are the false prophets of today.

1. Through Coveteous

Peter speaks about the driving force behind the “Bible Crooks.” These men and women are driven by coveteousness. Their apetite for wealth and power is a bottomless pit which gets bigger and more demanding each time it is fed. These are hungry wolves who will do anything in their power to deceive and to loot the people off their money and prized possessions. They teach not the words of Jesus. If they ever try to teach what Jesus taught, they would twist His words in order to benefit themselves. Like a pack of hungry wolves they team up against God’s people to devour and to scatter them.

2. With Feign Words

These crooks have a very powerful tool they use to make their kill. Peter says that, they use “crafty words.” These people are not idiots, they are endowed with tremendous amounts of deviousness. They are able to make people do unimaginable things through their crafty speeches. They have the gift of the gap and have no shame of speaking on subjects about which they have no clue whatsoever. They can pretend to be medical professionals, business owners, pastors and many others. These crooks enjoy the spotlight and are very egocentric, in fact, they make people think very high of them, even higher than God. I know it is absurd to say such a thing. Allow me to explain.

A Bible Crook always has a story that would protray him or herself as a close friend of God. They never fail to tell their audience about the private conversations they get to have with God. Once they win their audience’s hearts through such stories, they proceed to paint a picture of a puny god, the one who is absolutely under human control. They seem to know better than God. You will see this in their constant critique of the difficult parts of the Bible. They would resolve to some weak and shallow human philosophy and they have no shame to present their opinion as though it is the word of God. Their victims are caught in the nets of their deception, thinking that the men they feed is the man of God, not knowing that it is only an impostor, who is well versed in the matters of holiness yet lacks the skills to apply such matters in his own life by means of practice.

Charles H. Spurgeon puts it well when he says, “A graceless pastor is a blind man elected to a professorship of optics, philosophizing upon light and vision, discoursing upon and distinguishing to others the nice shades and delicate blendings of the prismatic colors, while he himself is absolutely in the dark! He is a dumb man elevated to the chair of music; a deaf man fluent upon symphonies and harmonies!” (Lectures To My Students, Pg 14).  The Apostle Paul said that these men had a form of godliness yet they deny its power. They profess to be godly yet in their private quarters they perfom terrible acts of blasphemy. They preach about humilty yet they themselves are plagued with an incurable desease of pride.

3. Make Merchandise of You

The Bible Crooks are not the friends of God, neither are they the shepherds of the flocks of God. These are business men and business women. Their expectation is profit. They fleece their followers and do whatever they can to establish and sustain their empires. Peter says, “they shall make merchandise of you.” What he is saying is, they shall make business of you. They will sell you out without thinking twice. Their involvement with you would be pure business. How often are you told, “In order to be blessed sow a financial seed to a pastor or to a prophet?” Today churches have sales stands where Bible Crooks display their products. These product range from “anointed soap,” to “anointed oil,” to “anointed condoms” and to many other outrageous items of the “anointed” series. The Bible ignorant people will be pouring their money into these shops which are disguised as churches. Like shops in a shopping mall, so are the churches in the residential areas.

There are very few churches which are interested in the glory of Christ and to assisting people into becoming more like Christ. Many churches have discipleship goals written down but now those goals are collecting dust in some shelf as the pastor forgets that he has a Master before whom he shall give account and he roars away with appetite for power and wealth.
One sad and probably the most shameful trend among the Bible Crooks is the lack of self control, particularly in sexual context. They use the gullibility of desperate women to satisfy their own sexual desires. They promise them a wide range of possibilities in exchange for sex. These silly women would believe the crook and would allow him to do as he pleases and in the end the woman is shamed and the crook escapes unharmed. Paul did warn of this kind of immorality. He said,”For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,” (2 Timothy 3:6)

Conclusion

What then can be done with the information on this post? Well, Jesus said, “Beware of false prophets” (Matthew 7:15)  That means, be on guard always. Don’t fall asleep. Always keep your eyes on Christ Jesus. Don’t rely on men. No matter how big the claims they make about themselves and about their walk with God. Fix your eyes on Jesus. If you are strong in the word of God, protect those who are weak. If you have knowledge on things of God, help those who don’t have it. Like a good soldier of Christ, stand your ground and fight for TRUTH. Reject and expose the Crooks. Call them out by name with the hope that God will give them true repentence. Remember, in the Kingdom of God there is no room for a coward.

Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”  –  2Timothy 4:2

INTRODUCTION

In this post I am going to deal with the subject of Biblical Preaching. It is quite obvious that in this day and age we need biblical preachers.  There is too much circus going on in the church circles to the point that the bible has been evicted from the pulpits and has been replaced by the books written by these false and egomaniac preachers. There are only three points I am going to treat.  First we are going to look at the content of preaching, and then move on to the timing of preaching, and then we shall look at the application of preaching.

I. The Content of Preaching

“Preach the word”

Paul gives Timothy a charge before God and before the Lord Jesus Christ. He tells him to preach the word. There is nothing more Timothy is told to preach apart from the word of God. It shouldn’t be a surprise as to why Timothy must preach the word. It has been explained in the preceding verses, that, “All scripture is given by inspiration of God.” The Scriptures are God’s word and therefore they must be preached. Amos says, “The Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?” (Amos 3:7).  So if God speaks to us today, there is no need then to listen to anything else except the preaching of God’s word.

There could be a number of activities at the gathering of believers but those activities no matter what they may be, are not worthy to be compared to the word of God in terms of importance. The word must be preached at all costs and irrespective of what activity we have in place. When we go to church we enjoy socializing and eating. We also enjoy having fellowship with other believers in singing or in dancing to music but the ultimate purpose is to have fellowship with God in hearing Him as He speaks to us through the preaching of His word. Paul says, “Preach the word, Timothy!” No gibberish! No funny stuf! Just preach the word of God without any reservation whatsoever. It is through the word of God that a man can live. The responsibility therefore, of the preacher, is to preach and to teach the word of God to the people.

II. The Timing of Preaching

“Be instant in season, out of season”

If one were to ask, “When should the word be preached?” this section of the verse covers it. It says, “In season and out season.” Lets us explore the two words. What does Paul mean by “In season, out of season?”

1. In Season (ευκαιρως)

a. Time

Paul tells Timothy to preach the word in Season. The Greek word is “Eukairos” which is made up of two words, “Eus” an adverb which means “good” or “well” and “kairos” which means “opportunity,” or “proper time.” What Paul tells this young preacher is, he must make use of proper time to preach the word. He must preach whenever he is expected to preach.

b. Place

Time is always bound up with space. So this also implies that Timothy must preach the word at the right place for the preaching of the word. He must preach at church services, funerals, weddings and many other places where the word is always expected to be delivered. He must preach the word where and when it feels right to preach.

c. People

Preaching involves not only space and time but it also involves people. There are different kinds of people but the word of God must be preached to all the people whom God loves. To preach at the right time (in season) means to preach to believers. The people who needs to be edified and to be encouraged in the faith

2. Out of Season (ακαιρως)

a. Time

Again we look at the Greek word used in this text. The word is “akairos” which is a negative of “kairos.” The word ought to be preached also in times viewed as inconvenient to preach. These are the times where people do not think that there could be any preaching done. Preach it while waiting for the bus and on board the bus. Preach it while watching a football match.

b. Place

The word of God can be preached at a street corner or outside the sports stadium as people go in to watch the match. Preach the word at a community meeting or at the art in the park event. Anywhere and at anytime, preach the word of God, O man of God.

c. People

Preaching out of season means you are going to be preaching to people who do not care about the word of God. People who do not want to hear about Jesus. Sometimes they will be offended but some will be converted. The president of the country needs to hear the preaching. Your boss needs to hear the gospel and that potty mouthed neighbour of yours who is always drunk needs to hear the gospel from you. Since he won’t go to church to hear it there, intrude on his time like an angel of dead and preach the hell out of him. Who knows maybe God will touch his heart and he will come to repentance.

III. The Application of Preaching

“Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.”

Paul tells Timothy of four things which his sermons should aim to do. These four things should also be seen in our own sermons.

1. Reprove (correct)

At times people get wrong ideas about many things. When this happens, it is the duty of the preacher to bring about correction. A pastor’s role is to shepherd or guide his flock. When one sheep strays from the way, the pastor must bring them back onto the right path.  The preaching must bring correction. It must turn the prodigal son back to the Father’s arms.

2. Rebuke

When people are doing wrong things, they need to be rebuked. We need preachers who will rebuke wrongdoers without fear. We need the kind of preaching that would rebuke those people who are continuing in sinful practices. Under good preaching, people should have a vivid understanding of right and wrong. If this is not happening then the preacher has failed to execute his job properly.

3. Exhort (encourage)

a. Encouragement

Sometimes people got through seasons of drought and difficulty. Some are even on the verge to lose their faith. The preacher must encourage them to press on and never to give up. As a preacher you must encourage people to do the following (just to name the few):

i) Pray

ii) Read the Bible everyday

iii) Tell others about Jesus

iv) To  live in holiness

v) Fellowship with other Christians

vi) Be kind to other people

b. Patience

To encourage people is not an easy job. Often the result would not be seen as soon as we would like them. Therefore it is necessary to keep sharing and encouraging people with a great deal of patience. Don’t stop preaching just because you think there are no results.

3. Doctrine

Every preacher must understand the doctrines which the bible teaches and therefore must pass them on to the people of God. The people must understand the subjects like Justification, Sanctification, Resurrection and any other doctrine that we have in the word of God. We must always uphold the true doctrine in our preaching.

a. The Bible

As Paul had pointed out that “All scripture is given by the inspiration of God” He also pointed out that they are “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:”

Note: The scriptures are profitable (useful) for Doctrine. This means every doctrine that is taught in our preaching should always be based on the Scriptures, particularly the Bible.

b. Authority

To say that the scriptures are useful for Doctrine implies that in the matters of teaching, the Holy Scriptures are the only literary work that bears authority in the Christian body. Any other text should therefore be looked at with careful consideration and scrutiny. We teach the Bible and we preach from the Bible.

CONCLUSION

We have established that Paul teaches Timothy to preach the word of God. He must preach the word of God to those who believe and he must preach to those who don’t believe. There is no place on earth where Christ shouldn’t be preached. Christ must be preached anywhere, anytime and to anyone.

To preach the word of God in our time means to preach Jesus Christ being the Saviour who was crucified and then raised from the dead, and then ascended to heaven and who is soon to return. Jesus Christ should always be the centre of attention and the centrifuge of our preaching. Jesus Christ at the Centre of it all.