As is the custom at our church, after the first song, the congregation is encouraged to step out of the pews and greet one another, especially newcomers. It was during this time that my eyes and ears caught an interaction between my friend Kyle and a young family I had never seen before.
“This is our first time coming to this church,” the man said as his wife and two children looked on. “What can you tell me about this church? Specifically, what makes it a good one?” As my ears perked up at the question, I turned around, and Kyle could tell I was ready to speak. “Well, first and foremost, I’ll tell you that we are a Bible-believing church that stands ten toes on the Gospel and won’t compromise on the truths laid out in the Word, no matter how offensive or outdated they might seem to the world.” I then added, “Oh, and we have a great kids’ ministry and several active ministries you can get involved in.” Later, after the introduction period ended, we had two baptisms, which reminded me how blessed I was to belong to a faithful church with a pastor unwilling to water down the Gospel. You see, it’s great to belong to a church with a strong praise team or a hundred different programs, but it isn’t a genuine “church” if it doesn’t teach “truth” and “sound doctrine.”
Paul understood this clearly, and it was a truth he was determined to pass on to Timothy—a young pastor he was mentoring—before his death. So urgent was this charge that Paul invoked the highest possible authority to deliver the message:
“I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” (2 Timothy 4:1-5)
Notice why Paul felt this urgency. Standing on the brink of his own martyrdom, he was commanding Timothy, in the name of God and Christ, to preach the Word whether it was convenient or not. And the reason for that command was a sobering one: a day was coming when people would no longer endure sound doctrine, choosing instead teachers who would scratch their “itching ears” rather than confront them with truth. Against that coming drift, Paul gave Timothy a clear blueprint for endurance—stay sober-minded, embrace hardship, preach the good news, and finish the ministry he’d been given. That drift Paul warned about isn’t hypothetical. Isaiah described it centuries earlier in even starker terms:
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20)
Paul knew this reversal of truth and error was coming for the church, and Isaiah shows us that it’s the same reversal that has plagued God’s people all along. And we don’t have to look far to see it playing out today. People in record numbers are rejecting biblical truth and sound teaching, flocking instead to “churches” and “pastors” who preach half-truths and outright false doctrine—calling evil good and good evil, just as Isaiah warned. So what does faithfulness look like in the face of that drift? Luke gives us the model in the Bereans, who didn’t just passively accept what they were taught but tested it:
“These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so.” (Acts 17:11)
This is our job, too—to search the Scriptures ourselves and confirm that what we’re hearing lines up with the truth. And it’s not enough to search Scripture; we’re also called to hold up our pastors and leaders in prayer, asking God to give them the boldness Paul modeled and for which he asked others to pray for him:
“praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.” (Ephesians 6:18-20)
If Paul, an apostle, needed the church praying for his boldness, how much more do our own pastors need the same from us? This is exactly why it’s never been more important for every believer to belong to a faithful church—not just to attend, but to search the Scriptures daily, serve faithfully, pray for their pastors, and boldly proclaim the Gospel in a world growing increasingly hostile to God’s Word. And that belonging matters more, not less, as the days grow darker:
“not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25)
The nearer that Day gets, the more we need each other—not less. So make sure you’re part of a faithful church, my friend, and that you’re doing your part to keep it that way. The “Day” Paul spoke of is closer than it has ever been. Let’s be found faithful at the returning of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, help me to be serving faithfully in my church. Keep me faithful to pray for my fellow believers and my church leadership, to be present, to be always selflessly serving, and to be constantly side-by-side on the battlefield with my brothers and sisters. Help me remain faithful to grow, to share the Gospel, and to disciple others with my band of brothers and sisters. In Your precious name, I pray, Jesus. Amen.
Happy Running!
Melissa Sharp is an ultra runner and running coach who has completed more than 100 marathons and ultra marathons. Melissa has learned how to keep running the race of life for the glory of Christ even though she endured decades of domestic abuse. Melissa is a survivor. Through her daily blog thejoyfilledrunner she inspires others to live in the strength of Christ.
