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Well, last week we talked about
the Gospel of Isaiah and what he said about the Christ, the
suffering servant, as a Christmas song, because that was a song.
Well, I have another song for you today from 1 Timothy chapter
3, and it was a song of the early church. But Paul is writing to
Timothy, and he's telling him, Timothy, I hope to come to you
soon, but if I'm delayed, so that you may know how to behave
in the church. And do you know what the church
is? It is the pillar and the buttress
of the truth. But then he also turns to our
hymn, great indeed we confess is the mystery of godliness. And then I believe he quotes
from a hymn. But can you imagine the early
church? the first believers, you know,
that first, second generation after the coming of Christ, they
must have been absolutely overwhelmed by the teaching of the gospel,
by the fact that God had come to earth in the flesh and that
He lived and died in our midst and we could see His glory. They
were overwhelmed by the truth that God had become flesh for
us, that He lived for us, that He died for us, that Jesus, the
Messiah, had become sin for them. And they just were astonished
that anyone would do anything like that for them. God himself
had welcomed them, had forgiven them, had included them, had
accepted them, had loved them. And it was really around that
conviction about the love of God lavished upon them in the
Lord Jesus Christ that the early church formed such an astonishing
community of those who had been miraculously saved and astonishingly
loved. And because of this amazing love
of God, they began to love one another and really love one another. What they shared together in
Christ trumped everything that made them different. Their economic
status didn't matter in the early church. You know, their race
didn't matter in the early church. They were all one in Christ Jesus. And they sang for joy. The early church was a singing
church. And they sang about Jesus. His life, His death, His resurrection.
Because when they focused upon Jesus, it changed them. It sanctified the whole church. The rest of our text is really
an early church hymn. This is what they sang. This
is how they celebrated together, and it was all about Jesus. Great
indeed is the mystery of godliness, we confess. He was, and this
is the song, He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the
Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on
in the world, taken up in glory. And it was this focus upon the
person and the work of Christ, upon the life and death of Christ,
it's this focus upon Jesus that sanctified the church, that made
them more and more like Jesus. One person put it this way, it
was the saving revelation which lies behind and finds expression
in Christian faith and life. You know, focusing on Jesus isn't
just Christology for theologians. It isn't just to anchor or to
write down and to cement the doctrines of our faith. We learn
about Jesus so that we can live. You know, doctrine is life. To
understand is to live a right. When Jesus is known, really known,
life has changed. It always is. Knowing God inspires
the imitation of God, and the fruit of that is godliness. So this godliness, the word that
we have here, great is the mystery of godliness, it refers to the
objective truth of the Christian faith. That's true. And we sing. We're singing all about Jesus
and what actually happened in time and in history because of
him. So we're focused upon doctrinal truth. But it is that focus upon
doctrinal truth that changes the life. And that's what he's getting
at here. It's the, if I can put it this way, the subjective inevitability
of believing in Jesus. Your life has changed. It can't
but, it can't not but be changed. Why? He came to make his blessings
known or flow as far as the curse is found. So Paul was here in
this hymn. extolling God's powerful actions
on the basis of the gospel. This is what He came and this
is what He did. This is what happened. But also the transforming
results that happen when you really believe it, when you really
receive Christ, when God is really with you. That is the mystery
of godliness. All my life, I have wondered
why Christians are so strange. They just do different things.
They think different things. They act in very odd ways. They
act in ways that the world around them doesn't expect and really
couldn't predict. Christians are weird, aren't
they? We're different. We think differently. They love in sometimes astonishingly
self-sacrificial ways. Ways that most of the world wouldn't
do, wouldn't even think of. Why do they do these things?
Christians, they don't follow the crowd. They don't do what
everyone else expects. They have a higher master. They
have a different way of seeing all of the world. And that way
of seeing the world is different because they see Jesus. Because
they actually know Him. Because they're actually attempting
to be like Him. And so they're different, they're
changed. We believe different things and we see the world through
different eyes and we set our minds on higher things. Well,
what higher things? Jesus. We fix our minds upon
Him. Who He was, why He came, what
He did. They look to Jesus, the author
of their faith and the finisher of their faith. He is the truth
and He is the finisher of our faith. He so works in us that
we become bearers of the truth. We become together the pillar
and the buttress of the truth. Something of the truth of Jesus
shines through us. God is with us, in other words. So we think on higher things,
we focus upon Jesus, we think about doctrine, we think about
Christology, and all that's true and as good as far as it goes,
but there's something more. This truth, this abstract, objective
truth, becomes a part of us. It dwells within us. The Old
Testament promise was that He would write the law, the truth,
upon our hearts. And that's sort of what happened.
The Holy Spirit hasn't just come to be around us, but He's come
to be within us. And so we are, in some mysterious
way that we don't fully understand, we are united to Christ. Christ
is present with us. We are part of his body. And
there is a power that is at work within us because Jesus came. Because he made that promise,
God is with you. He is with you. Not to him who is able to do
far more abundantly, far more abundantly than all that we ask
or think. Well, how does he do that? According to the power
at work within us. The Christian faith isn't something
that we believe merely. It is a person that we live with,
or Christ has come to us and we are now living out of Christ. That is the mystery of godliness. If we could summarize it, it
is simply this, it is Christ in us. Christ in us. That's the mystery of godliness.
Mystery. You've heard this before. Mystery
is something that used to be hidden but now is revealed. It's
something that is now known. It's no longer what we would
call a mystery. It is not a riddle that we can't
understand. It is a revealed riddle. Have you ever had somebody
do a magic trick for you? And then they showed you how
to do it? And it lost all of its fun, didn't it? Ah, now I
know how you do it. And sometimes that's what happens
when the mystery is gone. But in this case, it's the exact
opposite. When the mystery is gone, we just are amazed at how
amazing God is when we see Him, as it were, face to face. But
the revealed mystery is Christ in us. That's the mystery of
godliness revealed. Looking onto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith, that inspires our Humility, that
inspires our imitation. We've been shown the truth, we've
been shown what is right, and we won't long to do it. It's
the fuel of our reverence and fear for God. Have you ever heard
of Eusebius? If I say that word, Eusebius,
oh, I think I remember something about that in church history
class. That was the name of somebody, wasn't it? One of the early church
fathers, and he did something, maybe it was a historian. But that
word, Eusebius, it actually is in our text, and it means godliness.
That's why those people were named that. And there were some
early church people that were named Eusebius, and one was a
historian. But the word itself means godliness. Can you imagine
having a child and naming him godliness? That's pressure, isn't
it? Godliness. But that's what they
were named. And that's what it means, godliness.
Well, what is godliness? What is godliness? You probably
all have a picture or a definition in your mind when I say that
word. What is godliness? Here's a different definition,
maybe you haven't heard this one. Godliness is a life lived in response to
the true knowledge of God. The true knowledge of God. Maybe
we can change it a little bit. It's a life lived in the presence
of God, because He is with us, because He is in us. That's what
godliness is. It is knowing the truth as it
is in Jesus. It is walking with Him. Walking with Him as Emmanuel. as God with us. So our godly
living, our piety in action grows from the life and the presence
of Jesus. As we fix our minds upon Him,
we grow in godliness. We, we are the fruit of His victory. We are the spoils of His conquest. One of the things, and there
are many other things, but one of the things that Jesus came
to do is to make a holy people. And He didn't fail. He succeeded
even in that. And His life is our motivation
for godliness. So what is the mystery of godliness?
It is Christ in us. Christ with us and Christ for
us. And we see in Jesus what godliness looks like. What
it means to keep the law of God. What it means to live in love.
What it means to live the heavenly life. You can see it in the life
in the ministry of Jesus. Christ in us. True godliness
is God dwelling in us. And it is God living through
us. Christ, by His Spirit, now lives
in us and promotes the mystery of godliness in us before the
eyes of the watching world. He was, the first thing that
they sing, He was manifested in the flesh. He was manifested. He was revealed. He was made
known. You know, we often think of Christmas
as the glory of God coming and the glory of God being hidden.
You know, He was the majestic King of Kings and Lord of Lords
and He was born in a cattle stall. And that just doesn't seem to
fit. Well, He was hiding His glory, right? And that's true,
veiled in flesh that God had seen. We sing that. And it's
true that God came and He did veil His glory But at the same
time, He revealed His glory. He manifested His glory. When He was humbly born in a
manger, that was His glory. But can you see it? That's what
was happening. He was hidden and revealed at
the same time. He was showing you who He was by what He did,
by how He came. He was showing you who He was
by having the angels announce His presence and sing for joy
because He came. He was simultaneously, I suppose,
veiled and revealed. He was hidden and made known.
At the same time, we were beholding the glory of God's only Son. So He was veiled and revealed.
He was saying, this is your God. So what does all that have to
do with our godliness? Well, He did come, but He came in a rather
unexpected way. The Messiah that was promised,
that was foretold, we had all these thoughts about who He might
be or what He might come to do, and He came as a helpless child
in a manger. That was the beginning of His
glory. He was hidden and yet revealed. What does all that
mean? Well, the promises of God, the Messiah would come. They're
all true, but there's two things. You might have to wait for them,
and they might come in some unexpected ways. But the promises of God
are true. It might be not what you expect,
but it was what He promised. So we can live this life, even
in the midst of uncertainty, not knowing what next year will
bring, but we can live with the confidence that God is bringing
it. and His promises are true, and He has armed me for whatever
will come at me next year, because He is with me, and because His
promises are true, He was also vindicated by the Spirit." What
does that mean? Well, because He came in such
a veiled, maybe you could even say obscure and humble way, and
yet he was beginning to show the world that he was God's Son
and the Messiah, the Savior. How did he do that? Well, the
Spirit vindicated him. The Spirit was with him the entire
time. The Spirit overshadowed him at
his conception. The Spirit was present at his
baptism. The Spirit sustained him in the
temptations in the wilderness. The Spirit helped him to perform
miracles. But perhaps the greatest of all,
the greatest vindication of the Spirit was the resurrection,
where the Spirit declared through the resurrection, this is the
Son of God, this is the Messiah, this is the Savior of the world. You read in 1 Peter, For Christ
also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous,
that he might bring us to God, being put to death and to flesh,
but made alive in the Spirit. Spirit was there. And again,
Romans 1. And He was declared to be the Son of God in power
according to the Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the
dead. But again, what does that have
to do with the mystery of godliness? He, Jesus, was vindicated by
the Spirit. Well, He was the Son of God with
power. And He died in order to bring
us to God. And the same Spirit that raised him from the dead
is living within us. That's the mystery of godliness,
Christ in us. He was also seen by angels. The
angels were present probably throughout the life of Jesus.
They foretold the birth of Jesus, didn't they? Something amazing
was happening. They sang at the birth of Jesus. They assisted Jesus after the
temptation in the wilderness. They were present with Jesus
at Gethsemane. He was seen by angels. That word seen is in Greek the
ophthi. Have you ever heard of ophthalmology?
It's the eyes. Ophthalmology. That's where the
word comes from. But whenever that word is used in reference
to Jesus in the scriptures, it always refers to the resurrection.
So the the angels witnessed, as it were, the resurrection.
They were present then. To which of the angels has he
ever said, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool
for your feet? Are they not all ministry and
spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to
inherit salvation? The angels saw Jesus. What does
that have to do with our growing godliness? Well, they are ministering
spirits for our sake. He was proclaimed among the nations. Here's the Great Commission.
Go into all the world and speak about Jesus. Greatest thing that
has ever happened. Go unto all the nations, all
the nations, not just the Jewish nation. This is a message for
the world. And bring them the message of
grace and salvation through the finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That through faith all people and all nations can become
the children of God. They can come and see and know
God. They can come and be sanctified,
be made right, be made godly by Him, be a holy people. He came to make His blessings
flow as far as the curse is found. How? How did you hear the gospel? Somebody told you, right? or
somebody wrote it down, or somebody preached it, but you heard the
gospel as part of the fruit of the Great Commission. That still
goes on. He was preached on in the world. And he was not only just preached
about in the world, he was believed in the world. He was received
in faith. The other thing that's really
astonishing about the early church is the astronomical growth of
the early church. Well, there was once 120, maybe,
Christians, 120. What happened after that? Well,
in the year of 100, there's about 7 or 8,000. These are all estimates,
obviously. What about the year 200? Probably
200,000, the experts tell us. What about the year 3000? Oh,
6 million then, which was like 10% of the Roman Empire at the
time. What about 350? Oh, by then it was over 30 million,
more than half of the Roman Empire. Absolutely astonishing growth.
Oh, but that was then. You know, we, in the last 200
years or so, we have had the assaults of modernism, we've
had the attacks of modern criticism, and everybody, you know, the
Enlightenment and secular humanism, they're all attacking God, they're
all attacking His Word, they're all making Christians look foolish,
right? You go to the universities, they
do the same thing, making Christians look foolish. They're just backwater
fools. That's what they say over and
over again. So, it's 200 years of a massive assault upon God
and His Word and His people. Well, what has happened to the
numbers, the population of Christians? Again, these are estimates. In
the year 1800, over 200 years ago, There were about 32.4% of the
world population that was Christian, at least nominally so. 32.4.
Well, after 200 years of assault upon God and His Word and His
people, what's the percentage that they estimate now? Well,
it's actually gone up, believe it or not. 33.8. Now, who can
believe the numbers? There are, I think I can say
this with some confidence, there are more Christians alive today
than there ever have been throughout history. More people alive, Christians
alive today than at any other time in history. It's astonishing.
He is believed on in the world. And again, sometimes I think
about all these really smart and intelligent people that reject
God and the knowledge of God and the truth of the scriptures.
They find reasons and it sounds really, like it makes sense.
And then I, if I focus upon them, it's just like a breeding ground
for doubt and questions. But then I think of these other
people who are just as intelligent, just as scientific, just as smart,
and they all defend it. So you've got smart people defending,
smart people attacking. Well, what's the difference?
The Spirit of God, or God is within them. It's not a matter
of intelligence. But He was believed on in the
world, and He was taken up, they used to sing about this, taken
up in glory. Now probably when I first read
that, the first thought that came to your mind was that Christ
was taken up to glory. And that's true, but that's not
what it says. He was taken up in glory. What does that mean? He was taken
up in triumph. He was taken up after He had
won the victory. Oh yes, He died on the cross
for our sins and we don't pay Him anymore. Yes, but He died
for the victory. He was risen. He was taken up
in glory for our godliness. That's one of the other works
of Jesus, right? To make a holy people. And that's
what He's doing through His Spirit today. That is what it means
to say God is with us. He was taken up in glory, in
triumph. He came to reign in us forever. And He is. That's the mystery
of godliness. It is Christ in you. Christ is
present. Can you imagine playing golf
without your golf clubs? Look kind of silly, right? Sort
of shadow golfing. Can you imagine trying to be
godly without Jesus? trying to do the right thing
without Jesus and His Spirit and His help, without the armor
of God. We try it all the time. I'm going
to try to be godly without Him. That's our problem. We don't
look to Jesus. We look to ourself. We look to
our own abilities. We look to our own strength.
And so we struggle with godliness because we're looking in the
wrong place. If you want to be godly, you've got to look at
God. You've got to see Jesus. You've got to fix your eyes upon
the author and the finisher of your faith. Don't look to yourself.
He was taken up in glory, and He is the key to our godliness.
We, Ephesians say, we are already seated in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. For you are in Christ Jesus,
who became for us, or to us, wisdom from God, righteousness,
and sanctification. I am in Christ, and He became
for us sanctification. One of the things that Jesus
came to do is to make a holy people, and he hasn't failed. But we tend to have an identity
crisis as Christians. We don't know who we are. We
don't know what Christ has done to save us, to change us, to
help us, to love us, to accept us. We don't fully understand
it. And that's why good theology is so important. That is why
knowing God accurately and truly according to the scriptures,
that's why knowing God is so important for our godliness. We need to know Him. We need
to see Him. We need to be reminded of who He is. That is our fixing
our minds upon Jesus. fixing our minds upon His coming,
upon His life, upon His death, His ascension, His resurrection,
and it changes us. That's what the early church
sang. They sang about Jesus, what He did, and what it means,
why He came. Have you ever noticed those pictures
of owners and their pets, and you can't tell them apart? They
just look just alike. They spend all that time together,
talking to each other, relating to each other, and they become
almost identical. Have you ever seen people who
have heroes, movie stars or musicians, and they spend all their time
with them, as it were, wanting to be them, imitating them? The
more time they spend with their dogs, they look like their dogs.
The more time they spend with their heroes, they look like
their heroes. The more time you spend with Jesus, the more you'll
begin to look like him. That's the mystery of godliness. Let me just read this to you.
The secret of life is Jesus going with you day by day, involved
in everything you do, and you drawing upon His wisdom and His
power and His daily forgiveness. He sets aside your guilt. cleansing
you afresh so that the Holy Spirit bears witness to your spirit
that you are justified by faith. Thus you can proceed into the
unknown future with calmness, courage, and confidence to take
hold of a life and to deal with it in the midst of daily pressures.
Christianity is a living person made available to us by the Holy
Spirit, granting to us courage, cleansing, and the purity and
the grace to live as God's people in every situation. This is Christianity,
and that is the mystery of godliness, which is Christ in us. So, Christ has come, and Christ
has conquered, and Christ has risen, and now, today, Christ,
who lives in us, reigns in us forever. Christ in you, the mystery of
Godliness. Amen. Let us pray. Oh, Lord Jesus, how grateful
we are for your presence among us. And as you promised to be
with us, Lord, even to the end of the age. Lord, what courage
and grace and strength that that gives us. May we understand more
fully the reality of that truth and live in the glory of it moment
by moment, day by day, through all the routines of life, through
the passing moments and the pressures and the problems that we face.
May we ever be aware of your presence beside us and your courage
given to us and your reassurance. Lo, I am with you. Fear not,
for I am with you. May we, therefore, reflect a
different attitude and a different lifestyle from the world. For
we pray in your name. Amen.
Christmas Songs: The Great Mystery of Godliness
Series Christmas 2024
| Sermon ID | 1222242255356704 |
| Duration | 29:50 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | 1 Timothy 3:16 |
| Language | English |
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