Untitled Sermon
3:1. Paul declared, Mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. The “last days” is not some future event to which we look. It is now, Jesus Christ initiated this epoch, and it will continue uninterrupted until his return. Paul defined this expansive time period as “terrible.” God’s extravagant grace also characterizes this era, establishing salvation and the church. But these days unleash Satan’s wild attempts to destroy and undermine God’s redemptive intentions.
In giving us this information, Paul desired that believers maintain a readiness of spirit and life. The battle will rage. What each believer must decide is whether he will prepare for the promised difficulties or given to personal safety and comfort.
2. Characteristics of ungodliness (3:2–5)
3:2–5. The terribleness of the last days results from the continual decay of man’s spiritual nature. As people neglect the spiritual dimension of life, they turn in upon themselves to find meaning and consolation in the face of life’s absurdity. Paul penned a list of characteristics of false teachers and all those who turn from truth.
In 2 Corinthians 5:15, Paul wrote: “Those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” In this era, people refuse the love of God. choosing instead to be lovers of themselves.
This sentence offers the key to unlocking the rest of Paul’s list of vices. When we fall in love with ourselves, our own appetites consume our souls. We become our own lover, pandering to that solitary “i” which must, of necessity, dismiss all threats and counterclaims to our affections. Everything from thoughts to possessions must be lavished upon the one we love—ourselves.
This leads quite naturally to becoming lovers of money. Paul dealt with this rather extensively in 1 Timothy 6. Loving money and all it buys opens the soul to Satan’s traps, ensnaring the person in desires which cannot be met and enslaving him to a continual lusting for more money, possessions, or power.
Selfish people are typically boastful and proud. In stubbornly holding to the view that they are the center of the universe, such people have an exaggerated view of themselves. They actually believe in their own superiority. With this delusion, bragging falls naturally from their lips and pride wraps them in a haughty demeanor. These are the props which support their fantasy.
Pride can then lead to abusive speech and behavior. In order for arrogance to survive, it must view others as lesser individuals, as unworthy or unfit. This degraded view dehumanizes others, stripping away all respect and allowing the proud to slash with words or hurt by actions. When someone fails to see another person as wholly human, it becomes easy to destroy them. This is the antithesis of Christian teaching. Christ left us an example of servanthood, submission, and sacrifice (Phil. 2:6–11). Paul wrote: “Consider others better than yourselves” (Phil. 2:3).
Children disobedient to their parents also characterize the last days. In the Jewish mind, this equaled rebellion. Rebellion against authority always implies revolt against God. The stability of the home and society, and even the church, rested upon the harmonious functioning of family members. Disobedience represented a destructive force in all three spheres, and it struck at the heart of God’s authority over mankind.
The next few words—ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving—need little analysis except to highlight that these terms describe people totally given to selfishness. Unthankful people refuse to acknowledge their need or appreciation of anyone but themselves. Such persons are unloving. They see no need to offer the grace of forgiveness to others.
Slanderous refers to an unbridled tongue, a mouth that spreads rumors, gossip, or lies to the harm of others. The ungodly, who proliferate during the last days, also evidence a lack of self-discipline or self-control. They are brutal, or savage. They degenerate to wildness and are not lovers of the good. These people possess an appetite for evil, for all that opposes good. As such, they are treacherous, or traitorous, lacking in faithfulness. The ungodly are rash, thoughtless in their actions and speech.
Paul closed his list much as he began it, calling such people conceited. Pride surrounds all these sins and vices. He then concluded with the statement: lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Those who elevate themselves above others will eventually elevate themselves above God. Their own appetites and desires become their passion.
Paul’s words pile up into a negative portrait. Yet we need only look around us, or within our own hearts, to discover the seeds of selfishness. These phrases describe the unbelieving world as well as those within the church. The last days in which we live feature a mixed church, with wheat and weeds growing together.
Paul summarizes these days: having a form of godliness but denying its power. The essence of ungodliness comes from within, and then it comes out in behavior. Those who profess God, who claim spiritual or religious knowledge, do not necessarily possess a relationship with God or his righteousness. True spirituality issues from right thinking in concert with God’s power within the spirit of a person which transforms outward behavior. True Christianity cannot be hidden, nor is it a private religion without public effect. This was the erroneous view of the false teachers of Paul’s day. This theory still finds acceptance in modern thinking.
In these last days in which we live, there exists a decreasing belief in the Holy Spirit’s regenerating power for forgiveness and eternal life. People go through the motions of religion, refusing to depend upon Christ. Self-focus then supersedes everything else, and the spiral of immorality sweeps people into its vortex.
As we seek God’s power for patience and godly character, Colossians 1:9–14 is a wonderful prayer for believers. We often think of God’s might as applying only to momentous occasions. But his strength finds expression as he supplies power for daily endurance, courage to choose what is right, the ability to love and forgive, and the commitment to follow Christ.