This series of three articles is written by Dr Peter Masters, and is taken from https://metropolitantabernacle.org/articles/features-of-apostate-behaviour/.
In the course of his prophetic words in 2 Timothy 3, Paul moves swiftly to list the chief features of behaviour that will come to the fore in a perilous season, naming nineteen prominent sins which will take over society. These evil tendencies will be justified and applauded in the world, but the people of God must view them with great concern, recognising them as the very opposite of Christian character.
The first five are about self-service. Paul’s prophecy tells us that people will unashamedly focus their attention on themselves, being ‘lovers of their own selves’, so that self-service will become the approved and the noble goal for all people. He virtually predicts the promotion of self-esteem as the atheistic basis of well-being.
It follows that family breakdown will be commonplace, because love for others will take second place to self-consideration in the warped society of perilous times. The vilest of evils – such as child abuse – will be prevalent, because gratification of personal lust, however perverted, will take precedence over the protectiveness of parents towards their own children.
This is how low people will fall under the influence of self-love. They will put their own interests before anything else, believing that only fools would do otherwise, and the philosophy of ‘self-esteem’ will conquer the willing minds of millions.
Young people will grow up trained to seek their own ends and their personal pleasure, and even young believers will be infected with the disease. Ask most young Christians today why they have chosen their particular course of study or career, and take note of the reply. Is it because they prayed for guidance or wanted to do some good? Or is it merely because they enjoy that subject, or because they want to make money, or be important and admired? Often a few questions will reveal that (unnoticed by the church or parents) the world has shaped their outlook on life, and even saved, earnest people have fallen into its mould.
Just look at present-day society, and its tastes! Think of the hours that people sit watching TV chat shows in which an endless line of celebrities talk about themselves, regaling gullible audiences with self-applauding anecdotes. The society of the past would have dismissed them as conceited, banal and pathetic, but now their arrogance is acceptable, and it pleases and entertains everyone.
In line with Paul’s prophecy, serving roles are now rather despised. Service and devotion are largely regarded as foolish sentimentality in an age which has ‘put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter’. Gracious womanhood is a most precious jewel in the divine order; a conspicuous example of unselfish and loving commitment to the well-being of others; a radiant picture of the supreme goal for all human beings: to serve Almighty God, and to be devoted to him and his cause. We are intended to live and breathe for the purposes of God, and to serve one another, this being the substance of ‘all the law and the prophets’ (Matthew 22.36-40).
It is by God’s kindness and mercy that a natural inclination to exercise care has been maintained in women, despite the Fall, and especially within families. It is a divinely provided picture of the standard and calling of all people. It is a rebuke to human pride and selfish independence, that seeks only to dominate and disdain others. But in perilous times people retort: ‘I don’t see it that way; meekness and service is pathetic and insulting. No one should have a serving role; everyone should exploit to the full their liberty to achieve acclaim and self-satisfaction.’
The present age puffs up the individual ego, promising everyone the centre of the stage of life. . . . to be continued