2 Timothy 3:1-5 - Last Days Characteristics

Tom Shrader teaches from 2 Timothy 3:1-5 about the characteristics that will mark people in the last days, which span from Christ's first coming until His return. Paul warns Timothy that difficult times will come not because of natural disasters, but because people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. While these people may maintain a form of godliness, they deny its power - the power of the resurrection - making life hard for true believers who hold to biblical truth.

“We are Christians based on what we believe, not how we behave.”

— Tom Shrader

Series: How to Find Meaning in a Collapsing World (2014)

Recorded: June 12, 2014

Duration: 38 min

Themes: last days, difficult times, selfishness, materialism, godliness, discernment, character, faithfulness, pastor, church leader, facing opposition, living in secular culture, new believer, struggling with materialism, mentor, parent raising children

Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:1-5, 2 Timothy 1:8, 2 Timothy 2:3, 2 Timothy 2:9, 2 Timothy 3:12, 1 Timothy 6:6-17, 1 Corinthians 5, Matthew 7

Theological Themes: eschatology, end times, biblical prophecy, spiritual discernment, false religion, apostasy, pastoral theology, biblical worldview

Full Transcript

Open your Bibles to 2 Timothy. There's something about 2 Timothy that resonates with me, and I think the setting may be the powerful part of that. This is the last written record we have from the Apostle Paul, writing to what I would argue is his closest friend or relationship here on this planet. So you're going to get some thoughts to this man, Timothy.

Timothy's a pastor, so some of this might be directed straight to him in that position. But all of it contains issues and items and writing from which we can get some great principles for life. We are going to start today in chapter 3.

Last Days Setting

So 2 Timothy chapter 3, and I'm going to read just the first five verses and paint a setting. You'll see some buzzwords there in verse 1, but realize this, that in the last days—now there's a whole industry that's popped up around the last days. Hal Lindsey's book, The Late Great Planet Earth, is in its 180th printing. That's big, unless you're printing one at a time. That's a pretty smart deal. So last days, that's the setting.

Let's read those five verses: "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God."

So there's a list of people characteristics, of qualities. When you think last days, if you've been around church stuff for a while, you think of indicators of last days. I was watching a show Monday morning on Christian television, and he was talking about, we know we're in the last days, we're seeing earthquakes, rumors of wars.

Character Indicators vs. Event Indicators

So in the scriptures, oftentimes when we talk about last days, you'll see those event indicators. Paul's not doing that. What Paul's doing is to say, here's what people are going to be like. And it starts with lovers of self, lovers of money, and ends with lovers of pleasure. But now he gives us a contrast at the end of verse four: rather than lovers of God.

Then he adds, "but they hold to a form of godliness, though they deny its power," and then he adds an emphatic command: "avoid men such as these." Which is going to be pretty hard to do—you're going to have to take yourself out of the world, which He's already told us you can't do that. What I think He's talking about is engaging them in a friendly, ongoing, non-combative, go with the flow relationship.

In other words, Paul says, I think it's 1 Corinthians 5, that I told you to avoid these ungodly men. I didn't mean in the world, because you'd have to withdraw from the world. I meant within the church, so He's talking about discipline.

Understanding the Text

Let me come back and break this down and we'll make sense of it. Verse 1: realize, literally it means fully contemplate, not just think about it, but meditate on it. So I want you to understand—we would use words like analyze this. Don't just go, "oh yeah," you get a lot of that in conversation, that's the new thing. I'll be talking to somebody that I barely know about something they don't know anything about, and I'll describe it and they'll go, "yeah, that's right, exactly."

He's saying, I want you to understand, don't just move through this and don't just take this for granted. So maybe in the next 40 minutes, we can engage you to a point that you'll want to stay engaged for a period of time on this. But realize this, that in the last days—are we in the last days? Absolutely. The last days are the time from when Christ descended till Christ comes again. So this is what people are going to be like.

Difficult Times

In the last days, difficult times will come. Difficult times mean literally hard to bear, hard to deal with. That's why, remember back last week, chapter 1, verse 8, "I'm not ashamed of the testimony, don't be ashamed of our testimony." Chapter 2, verse 3, "suffer with me." Chapter 2, verse 9, suffering. Chapter 3, verse 12, "all desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."

Why is that? Because in the last days, it will be hard to bear. You'll feel and start to feel like this, and maybe you already do. You'll start to feel like a shrinking minority. I find myself saying that sometimes: I'm a shrinking minority, I'm a heterosexual 60-year-old white male. I mean, there aren't many of us left. And that's what it feels like sometimes.

And He's not even talking about that. He's talking about now add to it the fact that you're a follower of Christ. So you are counter-culture.

Counter-Culture Christianity

It doesn't always feel that way. You can get general consensus on certain things. But when you take your Christian values and begin to live them out, they're counter-culture at their core, at their motivation.

So let me demonstrate this for you, which is pretty easy to do. Jesus said, "I did not come to be served, but to serve." Well, that's counter-culture. Even in the marketing, marketing will tell you where everything is. Even in the marketing, they're going to market something as simple as a hamburger by saying, "you deserve a break today." You deserve to get this hamburger, not just off the grill in just an assembly line. You deserve to have it your way.

This is so ingrained that it's infiltrated into the marketing for the U.S. Army. When I was a young lad, the Army appealed to a sense of duty and they said, "Uncle Sam..."

The world's recruitment strategies have evolved dramatically. Military recruitment used to appeal to duty and service - "Your country wants you." That approach doesn't resonate anymore. Now the appeal has shifted entirely: "Come into the Army and be all you can be." The message has become about the institution serving as your stepping stone to achieve your personal goals. There's a cynicism in recognizing how everything now appeals to "the you in you."

This self-centered mindset reveals itself early. Just last night, my grandchildren Tyler and Haley moved four houses away. Haley texted a picture of Haagen-Dazs ice cream bars saying they'd be ready at 6, assuming I'd arrive at 6:01. When we went over, our friend Eugene was there with Tyler, Haley, and the kids. Within five minutes, three-year-old Lucy had something that two-year-old Harmony wanted, and I heard the familiar refrain: "Mine! Mine! Mine!"

A friend shared how they tried to solve this problem by buying identical toys for their two children. The result? Each child would drop their toy and immediately want the one the other had. That instinct is ingrained in us - it's called sin. Those singular pronouns "mine" and "me" dominate our vocabulary, rarely followed by "I'm sorry" or "I'm wrong."

The Source of Last Days Difficulties

In the last days, difficult times will come. But notice the source - not earthquakes, wars, rumors of wars, or floods. The difficulty comes from people and their mindset. Jesus said He didn't come to be served, but to serve. When Paul wrote about what might be the key component in Christian life - certainly a key to the key - he focused on humility within the context of love.

Paul's choice of words reveals something profound. With his vast Greek vocabulary, when he wanted to write about humility, he had to invent the word. The concept of someone saying "Oh no, not me, you first" didn't even occur to them. This highlights just how radical Christian humility was to that culture.

Three Categories of Last Days Character

In the last days, people will exhibit three major characteristics. First, they'll be lovers of self - self-absorbed, where "me and mine" are exalted. This represents narcissistic preoccupation with personal identity. We see this reflected in magazines literally titled "Self" with the tagline "It's all about you."

Second, they'll be lovers of money - lovers of stuff. This connects to a crucial passage in 1 Timothy 6:6, which states: "Godliness is actually a means of great gain when it's accompanied by contentment." The passage continues: "We brought nothing into the world. We can't take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering with those, we should be content."

The Missing Ingredient: Contentment

I would contend that contentment is the missing ingredient in most lives. It's incredibly difficult to be content while engaged in anything that involves measuring or metrics on success. Consider youth baseball as an example. My grandkids just finished their season - it's sad because we're done until next spring, but we had such fun and made it to the playoffs.

These are seven and eight-year-olds with rational parents. Tyler and Brian Berger coach the team - you might know Brian's dad Bill, one of the great coaches around. Parents desperately want their kids on this team. During a playoff game with complex base-running rules, we went into extra innings. A clearly wrong call was made, and the tension became palpable.

Brian, who played at ASU and was part of a state championship team, reflected afterward: "I'm in there coaching this coach-pitch team, and I'm so nervous I can hardly throw a strike." The stakes feel impossibly high, even at this level. Whether it's youth sports or sales meetings with deal sheets and rankings posted every Monday, any measurement system appeals to our flesh.

My six-year-old grandson checks the East Valley Rookie League standings every morning to see if they've changed. Whenever there's measurement involved, it gets into us. We're not arguing against performance here - we're simply questioning whether certain achievements are worth the cost to our contentment.

The secret to this is tucked in there in verse 7: we came into the world with nothing, and we're leaving with nothing. I don't know if I shared it in here, but I had this profound insight about a month ago. To this day, I seem to be the only one who thinks it's profound, but that means I haven't learned how to express it yet. Because if it's in here and it's profound, then I have to learn to express it.

Here's the thought—maybe you will go, "wow." Solomon got everything. Job lost everything. So there's the two extremes. Both of them concluded and wrote, "I came into the world naked, I'm leaving naked." If I can get that in my mind—the temporariness of things—I have a shot at perspective.

The Trap of Pursuing Wealth

That's why here, Paul goes on and says in verse 9 that those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and a trap and many foolish desires that plunge them. The only other time that word's used in the New Testament is to describe a ship that's sinking to the bottom of the sea—plunge them to ruin. Why? Love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. If I love money, I will do things that I never, ever, ever dreamt I'd do for the pursuit of that money, that thing, that stuff.

Now, let me give you the—this is more than we should spend on here, but I'm into it. Verse 17: "Instruct those who are rich in this present world." So you can take out "rich," because that does make it money, and it's impossible to define. I've learned that when I say rich, here's how you define it: anybody who has more than you. So you don't have to deal with the consequences of rich. You're going to have all the joy of it, the prestige of it, but not the responsibility of it.

"Instruct those who are rich in this present world" two things. Number one, don't be conceited, because the minute you have some level of success, your instinct is to say, "Aren't I special?" And that's reinforced by your industry, your office, your union, your group, because they'll rush to you and say, "Listen, we've got our annual meeting, and we'd like you to speak and tell us how you did it, because whatever you did, we're going to go do the same thing, because you've unlocked the key to success."

The Danger of Success

I don't care who you are—unless you're Mother Teresa and she's not around—you're going to, and she probably did too, I don't know how she showed it, you're going to get pretty cocky and fool yourself. And you'll even get spiritual: "You know, God did it." But the undercurrent is, "Obviously He did, but who's He going to use but me? Look at you guys." That's how that works—you get conceited.

Or—and it's the second part of this—you fix your hope on the uncertainty of riches or the uncertainty of success. So it's not just that it's a grease pig. I'm in rehab the other day—by the way, I am a, I've been there 34 times now, I'm a 34-time gold medal winner. It's down to me and a lady who my mom could beat at this point, so I'm killing them in rehab.

I'm in rehab and they have the TV on, and usually they put it on something that's really bland so nobody's offended, but they're watching Fox Business. This guy's on there and he said, "The stock market is going to go to 17,000, and by this time next year, it'll be at 6,000." Well, I did a double-take, I'm going, "Oh man, I hope that's not right. Do you think he's right?" And I found myself going home and thinking, "Well, I need to call Brian, who handles our stuff, and go, 'Brian, maybe now's a good time to get out.'"

The Real Uncertainty of Riches

When I mean the uncertainty of riches, it's not just that it's a grease pig—stock's at 50, it's at 12. The uncertainty of riches is not that. The uncertainty of riches is when you're trusting and doing your life what only God can do.

I am all jacked up—we are 80 days until football starts. I mean, it is so exciting. Yesterday on the Big Ten channel, it was Iowa Day, so we're reliving—this is how desperate we are—we're reliving the 1985 season. That's a problem. That's like the Royals, whenever they do, let's go to the past. They got George Brett, they have to go back 100 years. So whenever you're celebrating two decades back, it hasn't been good.

But I'm just watching it and I'm going, "Oh my gosh, we're going to be at Kinnick Stadium in like a month, walking through the locker room." I mean, it gets—I got goosebumps. I mean, it's embarrassing and it's stupid, but it's so exciting. And I'm going, "This could be the year. The schedule's weak, a couple of breaks, key injuries at Wisconsin and Nebraska, and this could be our year."

Well, let's say they bust through. I remember my last trip to the Rose Bowl—we didn't score. It was 28 to nothing the last time I was there. The uncertainty of riches or success is to think when you get it, you'll be happy. If you get that scholarship, if you get that house in the mountains or around the beach, or if you get that girlfriend, or if you get that guy, or if you close this deal—He said that stuff's not going to do it for you.

The Last Days Characteristics

Now that was a rabbit trail. Let's go back and go through this pretty quick. In the last days, people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, lovers of pleasure. I'm going to find something contrary to what the Stones told me. I'm going to find something that's going to give me satisfaction. But He said, "Here's what it's going to be like." Put it in the context of yourself and your world.

People will be—as I break down this list—lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful. They'll brag, they'll say, "Look at me." They'll dress in a certain way, walk in a certain way, surround themselves with all sorts of things that puts themselves on display. Think Trump, just think that. Just put my name on a building. The brand is me, the brand is so strong.

Arrogant—they're above everybody else. They're better than you just by walking into the room, and if not, then they'll go out of their way to knock you

The Breakdown of Basic Relationships

Revilers are abusive, especially toward God. They become vicious. Again, putting names with it is probably very helpful, but I don't know if it's wise. Think Bill Maher: "I hate God."

Disobedient to parents. Well, kids have always been disobedient to parents, but we have a problem now with kids. Something like six to seven thousand kids drop out of high school every day—the number varies by how I research it. That could be the most killer statistic you'll run into. Take that and couple it with 47% of live births being to a lady who's not married. Those two demographics are not the basis upon which you build a nation. That guarantees poverty.

Years ago, it might have been Pat Moynihan who said there are two ways to guarantee poverty: don't graduate from high school, and have babies without being married. We are barreling toward that.

The Problem of Bad Parenting

But now with parents, there's disobedience. We have a lot of troubled kids, and I'll tell you why. We have a lot of bad parents. They want to be friends, not parents.

Here you go. They'll be at Toys R Us, and every time I'm there, I'll hear this: "Bobby, Bobby, pop, pop. One, two..." What is that? Here's how that ought to go: "Bobby, put that down. One." I don't need to prove that I can count to 10. It's fundamental.

Delayed obedience—this is a principle. Most of you are grandparents now, although some of your 35-year-olds need to be whacked and moved out. Delayed obedience is disobedience, and they're disobedient to their parents. They literally flip off and ignore their parents.

The Entitlement Mindset

Ungrateful, independent, self-sufficient, and with that comes a sense of entitlement. Here's where I see it. When I say sense of entitlement, most people raise up in righteous indignation and talk about people who are in the lower part of the economics. I see it all the time among Christians.

This is how we're wired so badly. We understand we're saved by grace, which is unmerited favor, which after a while we have a sense of entitlement to. "Well, I'm saved by grace. He owes me. He's obligated to me."

The Breakdown of Natural Affections

Unholy—no respect for things that are sacred. Unloving—it's the breakdown of natural relationships.

I feel like I'm using some illustrations here that are maybe too on the provocative side, but since we're there, let's just go a little deeper. I don't have a dog. I did when my kids were home, so I'm not an anti-dog guy. I've never had a cat. I have a friend who says, "You ask him, do you like cats? And he'll say, if they're cooked correctly." So I'm not a cat guy. I'm not a dog guy, but I'm not inhumane—which seems like a weird word to deal with a dog or cat—but I'm not inhumane toward them.

There are those ads on TV that show the dogs that have been abused and the cats that have been abused. They're generated to inspire an emotion in you and to get fifteen or thirty dollars a month. I see them, and I feel badly for these dogs and these cats. Somebody, well-intended, is spending millions of dollars to bring that to our attention.

Let's make one step here, and it's a generalization, so it's not 100%. Most often, these are people who are unalarmed by the fact that we kill 1.5 million babies a year. You've seen it. Many of you ladies, you've been there. "Oh, I just felt my fetus kick." No, I felt my baby. It's a baby. What is more unnatural than a mom who, for whatever reason, would kill her baby? Last days, you're going to see that.

Irreconcilable Differences

Irreconcilable differences. Refuse to talk to one another. Homeowners Association meeting is what I think of.

We came home, Sandy and I, from a walk Saturday, and our neighbor was having a garage sale—that's a bad sign often. So I went over and said, "Hey, garage sale, a lot of big furniture and stuff out here. Oftentimes, that precedes a move. Are you thinking about moving?" "Yeah, time to move. Home alone in this big house, no kids. I like it that way."

She said, "No, I'm moving." It's got four bedrooms and a pool in the middle of, a mile from Mesquite High. We're going to get a whole room, a house full of kids. All I can think is, what about me? I said, "For your sake, I hope it doesn't sell until I die." She said, "Well, I hope it sells a little faster than that, unless you're on a trajectory I don't know about."

But all of a sudden, I'm going to get a neighbor in there, and all I can think of is, "Hey, can you take Fido, and can you turn down the music?" Irreconcilable—family Thanksgiving dinner where you can't even make it to the cutting of the turkey.

Malicious Gossip and Slander

Malicious gossips, slanders, speak evil of each other. That curiosity that we have—these disgusting magazines and TV shows. Well, the only reason they have them is there's a market for it. And it may not be you at the store.

I went to the store yesterday to buy some roses for Sandy, which I thought was pretty impressive. Every time I go, something like this happens. I'm walking out, and a guy goes, "Hey, roses, big night? Special lady?" I said, "Yeah, my wife." "Oh." That'll be good. Every time I buy roses, I'll have either a gal who will stop me to say how nice it is, or a guy going, "Big night, huh?" "Yeah, my wife." "Oh." I'm amazed.

I love it when I stand in my car, and they say, "Welcome, Fry Shopper." There are all these magazines. Jennifer Aniston apparently is pregnant for the 400th time. There are all these magazines, and I'm like, this is disgusting. But every time I go to the doctor, I'm hoping one of them are there, because that looked pretty interesting. There's that malicious gossip side. It's out there.

The Reality of Human Brutality

It's out there, my four or five-year-old. It's so frankly out there. Turn on the nightly news and just look at that. The thing that was happening like a month ago where the guys are just walking down the street and the kids will be coming the other way and bam, for no reason at all. The violence that you see. It was the guy yesterday who took the girl and cut her up and ate her. That seems brutal to me.

I look at that and go, I could never do that, but I can probably do something equivalent to it. We're sick people. Brutal, haters of good.

Hating What Is Good

I like what that says because it's more than just evil. I hate good. This is a dated illustration, but it's perfect. I had a guy out of one of the studies, no reason at all, we're talking, he said, "I hate Debbie Boone." Really? He said, "I hate Debbie Boone."

He said, "How do you feel about her?" I said, "Well, she lights up my life. I don't know. I mean, I have an opinion on everything. I don't know." I said, "I don't know." He said, "I can't stand her." I said, "Well, do you know her? Did you date her? Were you married to her?" And he said, "No, I can't stand her." And I said, "Why?" Here's his answer: "She's such a goody-goody."

Really? So you want your daughter to be more like Lady Gaga, Madonna? I mean, I'm not contending my evil. I hate your good.

Treacherous and Reckless

Treacherous, betrayers. Take others and literally deliver them to ruin. It was a word that was used to describe Judas. Reckless, entirely thoughtless, conceited, and inflated with this sense of self-importance. He said, here's this last. Here's what people are going to be like. They'll be reckless, conceited, absorbed in themselves, lovers of pleasure.

But here's the balance. It's not just that they're these things. They're that rather than lovers of God. Here's the key phrase in getting this. Verse 5, "though they hold to a form of godliness, they have denied its power."

Religious But Powerless

It's not that they aren't spiritual, although I have no idea what that means, some power greater than us. He said, let me tell you what your world's going to be like. And then He lists all of these characteristics that are bookended by the idea of lovers of self, lovers of money, lovers of pleasure. All of that, rather than love God. And notice, it's a higher case God. He's talking about the one true God.

But they hold to a form of godliness. They may be religious. They may be in church. They may be, as Voltaire said, making God in their own image. But they deny its power. What's the power? It's the power of the resurrection.

The Problem with Religious Pluralism

There was, about five, six years ago, a conclave of religious leaders, primarily Christian, held up in Oregon. And one of the speakers said this. And I want to get you a direct quote. He said, "No religion can claim to have the whole truth about the mystery of faith. And I urge Christians to embrace other faiths."

Take Gandhi, for example. Gandhi was not a Christian. But if you say Gandhi was not a good man, you have a problem with me. Well, let's take Gandhi. Gandhi was not a good man. How do I know that? Did you know the Mahatma? No. But I know the scripture, "No one is good, no not one." The Mahatma did some very good things by our standard. Remember the classic picture that He left behind, His walking stick, His glasses, His prayer book? But He wasn't a Christian.

I knew when Maya Angelou died that I needed to get to the Oprah channel because I knew there would be lots on there. And right when I turn it over, they're replaying an interview with Maya and Oprah. And Maya is saying, "Listen, there are many, many, many, many paths. And they all lead to God." And Oprah said, "Oh, when you said that, you unlocked this great truth for me." Well, here's what she meant. You made me feel good.

The Narrow Way

There aren't many paths to God. "I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father but through me." Jesus warned about it in the Sermon on the Mount. There's a wide road, a narrow road. And the wide road is easily traveled. And there's many on it. But it leads to destruction.

Here's what Paul is saying: in the last time, people are going to be lovers of self, lovers of money, lovers of pleasure. And this is going to produce hardship for you as you cling to the truth. If somebody does not believe that Jesus died for their sin, substitutionary atoning death, and rose from the dead, they are not Christians.

Belief Versus Behavior

I had a great experience the other day because I got to say something I've said to you a million times, but it was new to this guy. We are Christians based on what we believe, not how we behave. And He said, "Wow, that's exactly right." He said, "In my office, I've got these people that do all these great things. They're the first one to open an account at the bank for somebody who's died without any resources for a funeral. And they're the ones who are passing out water when it's hot. And they're the ones that are doing all these. But they don't believe in Christ and don't go to church."

And I said, "That's the problem. They're not Christians." That is not to say we shouldn't be leading the way in the humanitarian thing. I've got no idea. We were talking about, I don't know what's going on with people across the border and kids being shipped in. I know this. There are kids down there who need food and water and clothing and something. And I don't want the government to do it. We ought to do it.

My grandson, the other day, said, "We ought to get phone cards for them." So I'm thinking, well, if they knew who to call. But there's that sense of that. We ought to be leading the way. We won't be. And all I'm doing is talking to you about it. I'm not doing

We're Christians based on what we believe, not how we behave. But what we believe should affect how we behave.

The Battle Ahead

In these last days, there's going to be a battle. It's not just an interpersonal battle. It's going to be a battle for faith. As you begin to take a stand for what the Bible teaches, you need to know there'll be a wave, an onslaught against you. You'll be characterized as a narrow-minded bigot, homophobe. I don't even know what the other buzzwords are.

What's the solution? Next week, we'll do the solution. Next week, we'll talk about how do I respond in the midst of this.

Father, thank You that You've chosen us and placed us in a place where people are lovers of self, lovers of money, and lovers of pleasure. Because as You work through our lives, the world around us should see something distinct and unique. God, let our light shine in such a way. And that gets easier in a dark world. Shine in such a way that people see our good works and glorify You. So that means, Father, You need to give us the spirit, the courage, to make You the invisible God visible and speak the truth boldly. God, do that in our life. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.