Amen. Your copies of God's word, I invite you to turn to the book of 1 Timothy, 1 Timothy 3. You can find this on page 992 in your Pew Bibles, 1 Timothy 3. And as you're turning there, just a reminder of the goal and the purpose of this letter from Paul to his son in the faith, is a picture of true gospel community, or the church, a picture of true gospel community as the church. And this letter, along with 2 Timothy and Titus, form together what's known as the Pastoral Epistles. And Timothy is in Ephesus, the city of Ephesus. And Paul, in this particular letter, and in this particular passage of the letter, gives us the reason and purpose for his writing. In fact, one commentator says that this text is at the heart of the epistle. And it was my intention to do all three verses this morning. That is not going to happen. We're just going to do the first two verses today. We're going to push off verse 16 for next week, Lord willing. I think it actually is probably for the best because that verse 16 is really a contrast a contrasting verse to the following verses in chapter four. Remember, there wasn't initially chapters in the Bible. So, as you would just read through this, you would see that contrast. And so, we'll be looking this morning at just the first two verses, but it's dealing with the church. What is the church? What is the mission of the church? What is the message of the church? And why is that important for us today? And so, if you are able, would you please stand for the reading of God's word. First, Timothy three. Just verses 14 and 15. I hope to come to you soon, but I'm writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. And this is God's wholly inspired and inerrant word. You may be seated. There have been many who have suffered the consequences of upholding and supporting and being a pillar of and buttress to the truth throughout church history. Think of William Tyndale, and for many years, 12 years running for his life from the English authorities, he was wanting to publish the Bible into his native tongue, English, and it was prohibited at the time. And they were chasing him down. He was eventually betrayed. He was thrown into a castle. Even there at the castle, he would, by God's grace, lead the Lord of the castle to saving faith. But in 1536, Tyndale would be taken to the stake and burned. And I think, reflect upon this and those that have given their lives and those that have suffered much to do what this text is calling us to do this morning. My late friend and mentor, Harry Reader, used to always say that the church, the goal of the church needs to be on mission and on message and in ministry. He was always a king of alliteration. And thinking of that being on mission is that you're not veering one way or the other and being on message that you're not going to succumb to the pressures of this world and the fear of man to lower or soften the truth of Scripture, but you are to be faithful to contend for that faith that was once and for all delivered to the saints and in ministry that every member is using his or her gifts for the building up of the body of Christ. And I think that this text gives us the contours of that mission and that message in that ministry. Well, Paul is desiring to come to Ephesus to be with his son in the faith, Timothy. But he's writing, if you look at verse 14, I hope to come to you soon, but I'm writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God. And so he is saying that there's probably a good possibility that I'm not gonna be able to make it. and see you." Again, this is between his two final imprisonments in Rome. We don't know if he eventually did make it there or not, but he's writing saying, you know, if I can't make it in person, because not only do I want to encourage you, Timothy, but I also want to deal with these false teachers in the church. It's kind of like, oh, Apostle Paul's coming to town, we've got to Well, he's wanting to come and be that encouragement and help to Timothy at the church in Ephesus. But he doesn't know if he's going to make it. So he writes these things, he says, for a very specific purpose. That purpose, he says, is to know how one ought to behave or conduct oneself in the household of God. And so there's a simplicity to Paul's purpose in writing, and that is to live godly lives in gospel community. To live godly lives in gospel community. And that happens as we live out the faith that we have in Him, as we are doers of the Word, as we are on mission and take the message that has been given to the church. Well, I do think this is part and parcel of the mission of the church, this behaving or how to conduct oneself. If you reflect upon the great commission that Jesus gave in Matthew 28, He says, All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, and baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to what? Observe all that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you to the end of the age. teaching them to observe. Here, this is what he's saying is part of the mission of the church is that the church itself, the people themselves, would live godly lives, would observe or behave, as it says here, in the household of God. That's the goal. In fact, in chapter one, verse five, he says, the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith. Those good works are the evidence of the faith. They're the evidence of the faith. It's the fruit of the faith. Well, as we see in scripture, we come to understand some very important truths about this church that is called in this text a household, that is called in this text a church of the living God, it's called in this text a pillar and buttress of truth, it's called in the Bible the covenant people of God, the visible church, what we see, the invisible church, all of God's elect throughout all time, the bride of Christ, as it's called, the body of Christ, You are called saints, holy ones. You are called strangers and pilgrims in this world. Those are all descriptions of the church in the Bible. But we're given three very specific ones today. Three for us to consider today, and here's the first. If you look at verse 15, the idea is that the church It's not less than people of God, but it is more than that. There's an organization to it, as any household would have organization to it, proper household. In fact, in Ephesians 2, you don't have to turn here, but just listen to this. Ephesians 2, verse 19, it says, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on a foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. And so, as an organization, the church has order, authority, government, accountability, commitment, but also as a household, that word, the church is a household, it's also a family. just as a household would be. In fact, it's the same word used up in the qualifications given to the elders and deacons just before this, how they were to manage their own household. And here he calls the church the household of God. So as a household, it is a family. It is a family. You and I are part of the same family. In fact, we can make the argument that you and I are closer in relations than my unbelieving family members, biological family members, because I'm gonna be with you in eternity. I'll be worshiping and serving and fellowshipping with you in eternity. You're part of my family. I'll claim you. But here we see that you and I are part of this household. We've been adopted by God, by law and love. It's a legal term, adoption. And you've been brought into the family, because when we're born into this world, we're not children of God. Hear this, I know this, a lot of people make this mistake. They say, well, every single human being is a child of God. You're brought into the family of God through Christ. You're adopted into the family. You're called sons of God. And I'm going to be very careful, and this has nothing to do with you ladies in here. The text, the reason the text says sons and not also daughters in the text is because in the first century sons had the status and the inheritance and all of that. And so the biblical writers call all of us sons. In Christ, there's neither male, female, Jew, Greek, slave, free, you're one in Christ. But this term of sonship, that you are brought into the family and you have the obligations and the privileges and the inheritance as sons of eternal life. It's like what he says in Romans chapter eight. He says, for all who are led by the spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. You received the spirit of adoption as sons whom we cry, Abba, Father. No longer living as slaves in fear. We're made sons. Remember the prodigal son, he goes off into the far country and as he's coming back, the father sees him and runs out to him. And what does the father do? He puts the ring on his finger and he puts the robe around him and says, you're not a hired servant. You're not a bond servant. You are a son. You're a son forever. As Jesus would say. You're adopted into the family. Oh, may we not live like those that have no part in the family. And as a household, it also conveys fellowship with a purpose. Your home, your family, my family is fellowship with a purpose. That's what that is. The church is the same. It's fellowship with a purpose, with a goal, with a mission, the message. Here's the second description in our text. The second description. behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God. It is the church of the living God. We've said this before, that the church, this word, ekklesia, means the called out ones. You've been called out of the world, out of the clutches of Satan. You've been rescued and ransomed by God, and this is the church, it says, of the living God. And I thought about this this past week. Why does it say living God, that phrase? I went back and looked at this 28 times in the Bible. It uses this phrase because it sets itself up as a contrast to dead works and dead idols and dead religion. For example, Joshua 3.10. Here's what it says. Here's how you shall know that the living God is among you for he will drive out the nations before you. Psalm 42, one and two, as the deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God, my soul thirsts for God, for the living God, the living God. Matthew 16, 16, where Jesus asked the disciples, who do you say that I am? Peter says, you are the Christ, you are the son of the living God. And then Hebrews 9.14, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself up without blemish to God, purify your conscience, listen, from dead works to serve the living God. a living God. I do believe not only that idolatry and dead works and dead religion was, you might say, alive and well in Ephesus, it was ubiquitous, it was everywhere in Ephesus, but I also believe it's the same in America today. Probably the same if we're not careful to say in our own hearts that we are prone, we sang this earlier, prone to wonder. We are also prone to set up idols in our own hearts. And we serve a living God, we're to have a living faith, an active faith, and not have this kind of dead religion, dead faith, and setting up before us dead, worthless idols. But this idea that this is a church of the living God, literally in the Greek, it should probably be, it's the living God's church, literally in the Greek. The living God's church. It's his church. There's a possessive here. It belongs to him. We belong to the Lord. We belong to him. We have been brought out of a bondage and a slavery to sin and Satan. and into, you might say, a bondage and slavery to Christ and that is glorious because if the slave master is a tyrant and bully and evil and wicked and cruel, it is hell on earth. But if he is glorious and compassionate and kind and sovereign and looks after you and even would lay down his life for you, That is marvelous and wonderful. And that's what we have in Christ. That's what we have in Christ. We belong to him. We are the Lord's church. We belong to him. We don't belong to the world. This is what baptism does, in part. It marks you off from the world. You don't belong to the world anymore. You belong to God. It sets you apart from the world. And this belonging, as God would call in Old Testament and New Testament, his people, his treasured possession, his treasured possession, that he is called out of this world. purchased by the blood of Christ, ransomed, it says. Actually, it says in Acts 20, verse 28, that God has purchased and ransomed a people by His blood. In Revelation 5, verse 9, it says that, you know, For you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed a people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You've been ransomed, you've been purchased, bought with a price, 1 Corinthians 6 says. You're not your own, you belong to Jesus. What's the implication of that? is that He's Lord of your life. If you belong to Him, He's not only Lord, but for you, that's incredible comfort. Heidelberg Catechism, question one, what is your only comfort in life and in death? It is I'm not my own, I belong, body and soul, in life and death to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ. We are part of the living God's church. It is His church. This is a problem today. I was talking with Pastor Chuck, and I'm not gonna talk about the content right now. But how so many churches it seems will just set up their own agenda and their own rhythms and their own priorities when we forget this is the living God's church. We should be asking what are his priorities for the church? What is his message for the church? What is his mission for the church? That's what we should be asking. We belong to him. And finally, this third description in our text. which is the Church of the Living God into verse 15, a pillar. And buttress, maybe you have foundation, maybe you have ground, maybe you have support. Buttress is probably the best. Buttress of the truth. There is a definite article there. He's calling the church the pillar and the buttress of the truth. Now in Ephesus there was the great temple of Diana or Artemis there and it had these massive columns, these massive pillars of marble and it was laid with gold all the way around it. And you would have the supports right against the wall, these buttresses. Sometimes there's in larger buildings, there were large buttresses on the sides supporting the walls and the structure. Of course, the pillars supporting the roof overhead. And here he's calling the church the pillar and buttress of truth. No doubt when this was being read there in the church in Ephesus they're thinking, whoa, pillars. I know a big building around here that has pillars and buttresses. He says the church is the pillar and buttress of the truth, not of idolatry, of truth. And when I think about the upholding and the supporting, as a pillar would uphold and support the roof, and as a buttress would uphold and support the walls and the foundation, so the church is to uphold and support the truth. What is the truth? Well, Jesus would pray in John 17, in the high priestly prayer, he would say, he would pray, sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth. And all scripture is breathed out by God. So his word is truth. Sanctify them in the truth. So here's my question, and this is where I wanna take you in the takeaways, okay? Lead you through the takeaways. Very practical things, answering the question, how can you as an individual, and how can we as a church, because if you, if we all as individuals are doing this, this is gonna be true of our whole church. So how can you as an individual uphold and support the truth? How can you do that? Let me give you six quick ways as application points, okay? Number one, you need to know the truth. You need to know it. You need to study it. You need to learn the word, know the word. This is what Jesus would say in John chapter eight. He says, if you abide in my word, if you remain in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you, what? Free, yes, love it. Will set you free. And this is true. He says, and you will know the truth, the truth will set you free. He says, don't go back to be living like a hired bond servant or a slave. You are free, you're free. Know the truth though, abide in my truth, abide in my word, know it. We can't support it and uphold it if we don't know it. Number two, to meditate upon it, to meditate upon the word. What does this look like? The word meditate means to chew on, to think about. So for example, to take Psalm 23 and say, Lord, you're my shepherd. And it says that I shall not be in want. If you're my shepherd, I will not be in need. I'll not be lacking anything. And God, if you're my shepherd, that means I'm a... sheep. And if I'm a sheep, that means I'm dependent upon you. In what ways am I dependent upon you? You see this? This is meditating. It's going to the Lord in prayer. It's a discussion, thinking out loud. It is maybe writing things down, but meditating, chewing upon, so that we would be like that Psalm 1 man that my delight would be in the law of the Lord and on his law and on his word. I would meditate day and night. I'd think about it in the morning when I wake up. I think about it as I go to bed. It is on my mind. To meditate upon the word. to memorize the word, number three, to memorize it. Oh, I know. I've heard it over and over again. I'm too old. I can't memorize anymore. I can. It just takes maybe more work. I feel like my mind, I'm always forgetting things. I've got no hope in future years. But when I think about memorizing the word, there's all kinds of things that we memorize, songs, all kinds of things we memorize. We have a Bible memory verse every week in our bulletin, by the way. But at some point, you know, elementary school, we stopped memorizing, actually putting the word into our mind and our heart and our soul. Now, some of you do. I know that. Actually, probably all of you do. But I'm just saying there's this is just not happening in the church today. We're not actually, it says in Psalm 119, to hide God's word in my heart. But I might not sin against you. Why is this important? Because memorizing scripture, knowing the word this way, is part of the armor of God that Paul mentions in Ephesians chapter six. He talks about the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, and the belt of truth, and all of that. And then he gets to the final one, the sword of the spirit, which is the what? The word of God, but it's not the normal word for word, logos, it's rhema, it's the spoken word. In other words, I need to know the word so that in those moments I can speak that word as part of my armor defensively and offensively. What did Jesus do when he was in the wilderness and Satan was coming and tempting him? He quoted scripture, he knew the word. He didn't say, you know, hold on, Satan, let me go find a scroll over here, try to find something that will be, he knew it. He pulled out the sword of the spirit in that moment. Memorize scripture. It's one way that we uphold it and support the truth. Number four, obey the word, obey it. Be doers of the word, not hearers only, James 1 says. Jesus would say in Luke 11, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. This is, I think, probably the biggest problem in our culture, at least in Chattanooga area right here. where it is called cultural Christianity. You've heard that phrase? Yesterday, all day, I was down in Alabama, and I was teaching a group of high schoolers from First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Mississippi. They were on a retreat. I was teaching them. And they were telling me that down in Jackson, Mississippi, Down there, it is easy to be a Christian in the sense that if you say you're a Christian, everybody's like, good job, great, you're accepted into the country clubs. It all makes sense. I would say it's similar here in Chattanooga area. But here's the problem. I see people professing Jesus. You're saying, you know what, I love Jesus, I accepted Him as my personal Lord and Savior one day, and I walked the aisle and I said the sinner's prayer or something, and yet you look at their life and you're thinking, wait a minute. They say they're part of the church, and yet when I look at this text and it says there, are you in the household of God? Are you part of the church of the living God, the living God's church? Are you supporting and upholding the truth as a pillar and buttress of the truth? There's no fruit. They're not obeying. There's no doing of the word. Oh, let's be careful of this. Let's be careful of this. I'm talking myself here, too. Where we just hear the word in public, yeah, I'm a Christian, but there's very little fruit. Or those that say, you know what, I love Jesus, not his bride. Be careful of that. I love Jesus, not the body, not the church. Number five. defending the word, defending the word. In every generation, the truth of God's word is under attack, as it is today. I was thinking about these high schoolers last night when I was down there and teaching them. It's a bunch of Gen Zers. They're all Gen Z. That is, those that are born between 1997 and 2012. They're all Gen Z. And there's so much in this fascinating, when I'm reading reports and news articles about the Gen Z generation, if you're a Gen Z, I'm so grateful for you in here. Because you're gonna be different. You're gonna be a called out one in this world. And they're saying that there's a lot of challenges upon them, which is probably true. But when I think about the next generation, every generation, it's upon them to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Every new generation, it's on them to republish that same good news of Jesus, to proclaim it from the rooftops in every generation. And we've seen that happen here, older generations, younger generations, the children here, and even as the Psalm 78 says, the children yet unborn, to pray that that generation would rise up until Christ comes again. You know what's interesting? The sign of his second coming, it's not all of the wars, the rumors of wars, earthquakes, all that stuff that's mentioned in Matthew 24, but the last thing he does mention, that's the sign, that the gospel will be proclaimed in all the world, and then, he says, the end will come. Let's be those that defend the faith, that defend the word. Always be ready, 1 Peter 3.15, always be ready to give an apologia, a defense of the hope that you have in Christ Jesus. Gotta know it to defend it. And finally, number six, to preach and teach the word faithfully to yourself, to your own heart, to your home, to your community, and to the nations. There's a preaching and teaching. Why? Because faith comes by hearing, and hearing the word of Christ. I love what Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter 12. He says, we don't want to tamper with the message. We want to convey it faithfully. It's not our duty to do that. We are stewards of what has been given to us, that good deposit. And so we want not to tamper with it, but to proclaim it faithfully. And we need to preach that gospel to ourselves, remind us who and whose we are, that we are forgiven in Christ. There is no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and that he is the Lord of our lives. We preach that good news to ourselves and to our community and to our family and to others in the world. I think if there's gonna be any apathy, I asked this youth pastor yesterday, I was like, what's the biggest issue facing this Gen Z group you deal with? He says apathy. He didn't even flinch. Apathy. And I think the cure for apathy is being public with your faith. Because when you go and you are public with your faith, with coworkers, friends, the places where you live, work, and play, all of a sudden, you're gonna be hated. That will drive you out of apathy right there. When you are hated and persecuted, it'll drive you to Jesus because you know that you need him and you know that he suffered before you. He knows suffering, he knows persecution. He says if the world hates you, John 15, it hated me before it hated you. But let's be preachers and teachers of the word faithfully. My prayers at Wayside would be a pillar and buttress a supporter, an upholder of the truth, that we would not be ashamed of the truth. Let me give you just a couple of closing thoughts, takeaways from this text. One, strive to live that godly life in Christ Jesus. Yes, he's a savior, but he's also the Lord of your life. You live before him, Coram Deo, you live before his face. Number two, live as sons and daughters of God, children of God, with that status as sons of God. You have the inheritance, you have the privileges. Don't go back in fear anymore. You have a Savior who is your Lord, who loves and cares for you. That is a great hope and comfort in both life and death. Number three, be encouraged that you belong to him, but you're not your own. that you belong to him, to the living God. And finally, to know, to meditate, to memorize, to obey, to defend and proclaim the truth to yourself, to your home, in this church, and to the nations. Let's pray together. Well, God, I pray that you would humble us as a church It sounds quite exalting to say that the church is the pillar and buttress of the truth, but God, we know that we're just clay pots, easily broken and shattered. The true power belongs to you. So God, I pray that you would humble us. Would we decrease? Would Christ increase? Would you make us those bold servants that we would shake off this apathy, that we would live for you, that we would be willing to suffer for you, have the courage to suffer for you in this generation, that we would uphold and support your word, and that we would take great joy in being part of the church of the living God, this household of faith and pillar and buttress of truth, we pray in Jesus' name.