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.