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I invite you to turn to 1 Timothy
chapter 3, and I'm going to share verses 14 to 16. Would you hear God's Word? These things I write to you,
though I hope to come to you shortly. But if I am delayed,
I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself
in the house of God, which is the church of the living God,
the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifested in the flesh,
justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached among the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory. I grew up in a church-going family. In fact, I don't think I have
missed more than two Sundays of church my entire life. But there was a time when I was
a teenager and I really didn't want to go to church very much.
The church was dead, formal But when I started going to a Baptist
Church with some of my friends that changed I Couldn't wait
until Sunday would roll around when I would hear and sing good
gospel music And I would hear the preaching of God's Word And
I want to tell you who else loves the church God loves the church. He founded the church He has
great plans for the church. And even though we have failures
and problems, God still loves the church. The church will always
be His plan for reaching this world with the gospel of Jesus
Christ. And on this homecoming Sunday,
I want to encourage us to renew or strengthen our own commitment
to God's Now my text calls the church the church of the living
God 30 times in Scripture God is called the living God God
is not some dead lifeless idol he is the living God and his
church should be a a living, vibrant church in the community. And I want to share this text
of Scripture to strengthen our resolve to be just that, a living,
vibrant church. First of all, note from our Scripture
the nature of the church. What is the church? Is the church
a building? No. Is the church just another
service or social club in the community? Is the church an entertainment
venue? No. The church is the church
of the living God. And in this text of Scripture,
Paul indicates three things about the nature of the church. First
of all, the church is a called-out assembly of believers. That's the meaning of the word
ekklesia in Greek, a called-out assembly. Now, in the original
language, it could be used of a religious assembly or a secular
assembly, but our focus is on the fact that we are an assembly
of believers that is called out to worship God, to disciple believers
to fellowship in Christ and to go out and serve the Lord. And so the fact that we are a
called-out assembly of believers means that we are first called
to salvation. If you are a true member of God's
church, You have heard the gospel call to believe in Jesus, and
you answered that call, and you became a born-again Christian. And the true church is made up
of born-again believers who have answered the gospel call. In 2 Thessalonians 2.14, it says
that God called you by our gospel for the obtaining of the glory
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Only those who have responded
to the gospel call are true members of His church. When I was nine
years old, I first sensed that call to believe in Jesus, but
I wasn't ready yet. But when I was 12 years old,
I saw a movie on television about Jesus. And I was especially touched
by that scene of Christ suffering and dying on that cross. I had heard enough of the gospel
to know what to do. I went to my bedroom, I knelt
by my bed, and I asked Jesus to be my Savior. And He came
into my heart. I answered the gospel call. Are you among those that have
answered the call? Are you a member of the true
called-out church of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, you can be
if you haven't answered that call. You can answer it today. But we are also called to a symbol
on a regular basis. Believers are to gather each
Sunday in His name. and we gather to worship the
Lord. Hebrews 10.25 says that we are
not to forsake the assembly of ourselves together as the manner
of son, but we are to exhort one another. All many churches
today have streaming of their services. And you can watch worship
right from your home with drinking your coffee and in your pajamas,
and you can really enjoy that, can't you? But you know what?
It's not the same as being in the assembly of believers. We are called not just to watch
worship, we are called to assemble. with believers to worship. It's not just about you. It's
also about how you can encourage other believers, how you can
fellowship in Christ and pray for each other. And so we are
called to gather for worship, for discipleship, for fellowship
and for service. But verse 15 also says that the
church is the household of God. Now, my translation says It's
the house of God. And indeed, there are a number
of times in the Bible where the temple of God was called the
house of God. But there are many times in Scripture
where the word house actually means a household, a family. And I think that's the meaning
here. that the church is the household of God. It's not a building. It's the
people who gather in the building that is the family of God. That means that God is our Father
and we are brothers and sisters in the Lord. And you know, we
need to treat one another like family. We need to love one another. We need to care for one another.
The church is the household of God, and who's the head of the
family? It's Christ. He's the head of
the church, and we are to obey him. But thirdly, the church
is also the church of the living God, as he says in the last of
verse 15. And if we are the church of the
living God, then we ought to manifest the life of God. We should be a vibrant, living
body of believers, especially when we gather together. Jesus
said in John 14, 19, Because I live, you shall live also. We are the body of Christ if
we're truly saved. And we receive life from Christ
who is the head. And so when we gather for worship,
there ought to be life in this place. There ought to be vibrancy
in this place. We ought not to be a dead church,
but a very much alive church. Do you know what Jesus said to
the church in Sardis in Revelation chapter 3? Jesus says, You have
a reputation that you're alive, but you're dead, spiritually
dead. May that not be true of us. You know, it's sad. And I'm so
glad that Skin Quarter Baptist Church has been worshiping in
this location for almost 250 years. And a lot of churches this old
have died and closed its doors, but this church is still worshiping,
it's alive, and may it always be true of this church. We are the church of the living
God. It's a bad testimony when a church
dies and closes its doors when we're the church of the living
God. You know, if you find church
boring, If you're unresponsive in worship, perhaps it's not
the problem with the church, perhaps it's the problem with
yourself. The Bible says in Ephesians 2
that you are dead and trespasses and sins. If you're spiritually
dead, of course church will be boring. Of course there'll be
something you're not interested in. Of course you'll be unresponsive. But when Christ makes you alive,
you want to hear the Word of God. You want to worship Him.
You have life in Christ. And so we read about the nature
of the church, but we also see in this text of Scripture the
conduct of the church. You know, when you're in a family,
there's certain Expectations of conduct, if you're going to
be a part of this family. When you go to school, there's
expectations of conduct. If you're at work, there's certain
expectations of conduct. And when you are with the gathered
church, Paul indicates here that there are certain expectations
of how you are to conduct yourself in the household of God. Now one general principle is
this, that God is holy, and when we gather in His name, this gathering
is a holy gathering. You know what the word holy means? It means special, separate, different
from other gatherings. And so when we gather for worship,
you need to regard this as a holy, special gathering. We come here
to worship. Our focus should be on worship,
not on secular things. You don't need to be scrolling
through your social media on your smartphone while the worship
of God is taking place. You don't need to be texting
your friends while the worship of God is taking place. This
is a holy gathering. You need to recognize it as such. Parents need to teach their children
how to behave in church to have reverence in church Boy in the
old days if you misbehaved in church, you know, what would
happen to you? Oh mama would grab that knee and tighten it
up, you know And she'd let you know that you're not supposed
to misbehave in church And so he said I write that you may
know how to conduct yourself in the household of God You know,
if we back up into 1 Timothy, he says, I write these things.
And so if we back up into 1 Timothy, note some of the things that
he talked about. First of all, we are to engage
in peaceful, godly, reverent living. In chapter 2, verse 1,
he says we're to pray at the church. And the last of verse
2 says that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness
and reverence. A peaceable life. We're not to
be troublemakers. We're not to be agitators as
we gather in God's place. Of course, there's going to be
times when we disagree, but we need to do it properly, not in
a wrong way. Likewise, in 1 Thessalonians
4, verses 11 and 12, make it your ambition to lead a quiet
life. and attend to your own business
and work with your hands so that you may behave properly toward
outsiders. The church is not to be a society
of political agitators perceived as an enemy to national security
or peace. Instead, Christians are to be
model citizens of quiet, peace-loving people. I know of a church right
here in Virginia They had a business meeting where it got so bad that
people were literally fist fighting in a church business meeting. It got so bad they had to call
the police to try to bring peace and order to that church. That
is not the way to conduct yourself in the church of the living God. And then he talks secondly about
dressing properly in worship. I will just review it in case
you weren't here. Verses 9 and 10 says, and like
manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel
with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold
or pearls or costly clothing, but what is proper for women
professing godliness with good works. Basically, Paul is simply
saying that your dress, to be appropriate and sensible and
with modesty and moderation. You're not to dress in such a
way that flaunts your wealth or flaunts your sexuality. But our purpose when we gather
is not to draw attention to ourselves, but to turn our attention to
God and the worship of God. Suppose you have a birthday party
for your daughter. and as is appropriate for the
birthday party, she dresses up in a special way. It's her birthday. But somebody comes in and they
dress even more like it's their birthday and they draw attention
to themselves away from who the party is for. That's just not
appropriate. And so when we gather for worship,
let it not be about us, let it be about the God that we worship. And then he talks about proper
behavior in chapter 3 about electing leaders. We elect leaders based
not on how good-looking they are or how successful in business
they are, or other worldly qualifications, but based on their Christian
character. And pastors have the added requirement
of being able to teach. That's it. That's what guides
us in how we are to vote on nominees that are presented to us. We
need to conduct ourselves properly in the church of God. And of
course, pastors and deacons are to maintain the qualifications
in our daily lives. That is part of how we conduct
ourselves properly in the church of God. And so we've seen the
nature of the church. We've seen the conduct of the
church. But finally this morning, we
see the work of the church reflected here. What is the work that we're
to do? We gather for worship, but we
also are to serve the Lord out in the community. Well, foundational
to everything is what Paul says in verse 15, that we are to preserve
and uphold the truth of God. The last of verse 15 says that
this church of the living God is the pillar and ground of the
truth. We have the truth given to us
by God, and we are the pillar and ground of the truth. Now
let me tell you something about our society. Our society has
jettisoned the ages-long understanding that truth is objective. We live in a society where truth
is relative. It depends on the individual. They talk about your truth or
my truth rather than the truth for all people and all generations. But that's the kind of truth
that the Bible talks about. That's the kind of truth that
we are entrusted with. You see, truth is objective because
it is rooted in the very nature of God. God who changes not. God is truth. Jesus said, I am
the truth. Ephesians 4.21 says the truth
is in Jesus. And since God is truth, His word
is truth. Jesus said in John 17, 17, Your
word is truth. And again, God's truth is always
true for all generations and for all people. Peter affirmed
that God's Word endures forever. God has entrusted us, the church,
with His truth, and we are to uphold the truth, lift it high
for all to hear and to see, and we are to stay true to the truth
of God. And Paul uses a picture here
of how we are to relate to the truth. He calls the church the
pillar of the truth. The pillar of the truth. Think
of a temple. Think of a big building with
a big column, a big, as it says there, a pillar. It upholds the roof of the building. And we are to lift high and uphold
the truth of God for all to hear and for all to see. And he is also the ground of
truth, the foundation of truth. You know, when Peter confessed
to Jesus, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus
responded by saying, you are Peter and upon this rock, I will
build my Indeed, Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 20 says that the
church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets,
the teaching of the Word of God. And so, that being the case,
We are to uphold the truth. We are to hold fast to the truth.
We are to always proclaim the truth. This truth that we have
in the Word of God, our Baptist forefathers, our Christian forefathers,
many of them have died and shed their blood in defense of this
truth. Oh, this truth has been costly
to deliver to us, to our present generation, and we are to hold
fast to the truth. And so what are we to do? We
are to hold fast to that truth. Paul said in chapter 6 verse
Timothy, O Timothy, guard what was committed to your trust.
Regardless of how this world changes in its beliefs, its morals,
its values, we must remain true to the Word of God. If we do not believe and defend
the truth of the Word of God, nothing else will really matter. And so we need to be ready in
all ways to stand against false doctrine. In chapter 1 verse
3, Paul told Timothy to remain in Ephesus that he may charge
that some teach no other doctrine. In chapter 6 and verse 12, fight
the good fight of faith. Yes, we will be opposed. They
will oppose the truth of the Word of God, but we must stand
firm on the Word of God. Jude 1, 3 says that we are to
contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered
to the saints. I wonder what's going to happen.
We stop standing firm to the truth and just let the world
change us into their way of thinking. May it never happen. May God
always raise up generations of believers who will stand true
to the truth. But we must not only stand firm
on the truth and uphold the truth, but we must share the truth.
What good is it to have the truth if you don't share the truth?
Jesus says, don't put your light under a bushel, but be the light
of the world. And so we are to share the truth
with unbelievers. 1 Timothy 2.4 says that God desires
all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
Right here in chapter three and verse 16, I shared last week,
we have some truths about Jesus that we must share with this
world. that Christ was Son of God manifested
in human flesh. And though they said He was a
blasphemer, a revolutionary, a sinner, He was justified by
the Holy Spirit when God raised Him from the dead. He was seen
of angels. as they came to announce His
resurrection. He was preached among the Gentiles. Yes, believers so much believed
that Jesus was Lord and Savior that they went to many nations
within 30 years of His resurrection to proclaim that Jesus is the
Savior. He's alive. And He was believed
on in the world and received up in glory and great victory. And Paul says in verse 16 that
these are truths that we confess. We confess these as true. And if you believe these truths
about Jesus, would you say amen as your confession? Amen. He is what the Bible says he
is. And so let us continue to proclaim
the truth. Proclaim the gospel. But we not
only share the truth of God with unbelievers, but with believers
as we gather together. Pastors are to teach the truth.
Lay people are to teach the truth. In chapter 5, verse 17, it says
that pastors are to labor in the Word and doctrine. Chapter 4, verse 6, we are to
be nourished in the words of truth as he indicates there. We are to grow in our faith as
we stand on the truth. And finally, the work of the
church is to pray. I close with this, chapter 2,
verse 1. Paul says, I exhort first of
all that prayers and supplications and intercessions and giving
of thanks be made for all men." We are to be a praying church. Jesus said, my house shall be
called a house of prayer. And so I challenge you to make
this even more of a praying church. Pray with us on Sunday mornings
when we gather. Pray with us on Wednesday night
as we gather for prayer meeting and Bible study. Pray with the
Saturday morning group that comes to pray on certain Saturday mornings
of the month. Pray with the men's monthly prayer
gathering that we have and that is sponsored. If we will be a
praying church, we will be a powerful church. Our church is almost
250 years old. Are the best days behind us? or are the best days even in
front of us? You know what's going to make
the difference? You and I. It's up to us. It's up to us whether we'll be
a praying church. It's up to us whether we will
proclaim and be faithful to the truth of God. We serve a living
God and His church should be a living church. And if we will
recommit ourselves to the work of the church, then God has great
things in store for this church. For some of you, your first step
is to be saved, to be born again. And if you heard about Jesus
this morning, both in song and in preaching, then you're ready
to answer the call to be saved when we invite you to be saved
today. Or if you need a church home and you want to be a part
of this church family and help us here as we serve the Lord
and worship the Lord, You come as we sing this song of invitation. Let's pray. Heavenly Father,
we thank you that we can gather in this place and we can experience
your life. We can worship you. We can hear
the truth. And I pray, Lord, that this church
will always, always be a witness in this community as we stand
for your truth, I pray and ask you will lead and guide and prompt
people that need to make decisions. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
The Church of the Living God
Series 1 Timothy
In this expository sermon Dr. Felker shares some important truths about the church. He teaches concerning the nature of the church. We are a called-out assembly of believers and the household of God. The church is to manifest the very life of God. Then he speaks of the proper conduct of the church, to engage in peaceful relationships, to dress in a way that is fitting for a holy assembly, we should elect leaders properly and leaders are to maintain proper conduct. Finally, Pastor Felker shares the work of the church: to preserve and uphold the truth of God, to share His truth, and to give priority to prayer.
| Sermon ID | 102024131124040 |
| Duration | 28:44 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | 1 Timothy 3:14-16 |
| Language | English |
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