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And I invite you to give your
attention to God's Word. And today we come to 1 Timothy.
Continuing our journey along in the books of the Bible, getting
one sermon out of each book. And so we come to the pastoral
epistles, as they are called, where these letters written to
individuals. Two to Timothy. Lord willing,
we'll be in 2 Timothy next week. But today, 1 Timothy. And so,
look with me or listen as I read from 1 Timothy chapter 3, just
verses 14 through 16. Hear the word of God. I hope to come to you soon, but
I am 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. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness.
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. So may the Lord bless this reading
of his word. For as we say, the grass withers and the flower
fades, right? But the word of the Lord stands
forever. This is the word which by the gospel is preached to
you. Amen. Church matters. It matters to
the writers of the New Testament. It matters to the Lord. I learned
that lesson when I was growing up in more of a physical kind
of way. We had a gentleman, a World War II veteran in our congregation,
Lawson Summerow. His father had been a member
of the church since 1916, and after Mr. Summerow passed away,
his family remained, and among those were his son, Lawson, who
would teach us kids to do things like not run in church, not chew
chewing gum in the sanctuary, The difficulty there being it
was his brother John who gave us the chewing gum to start with.
And I had fun at each of their funeral services relaying that
message, how those two personalities were so different. John would
give us juicy fruit and Lawson would make us spit it out. Just
one of those joys of growing up in a church as a kid and there's
no substitute for it. but behavior in the house of
God. And yet we're here today not talking so much about the
physical plant, for which we're very grateful. And those of you
who have gone to such great lengths that we might have a place of
worship, yet we think of the church not as a building made
with hands, not made out of bricks and mortar or made out of wood. We think of the church made out
of living stones, the Lord Jesus Christ being the cornerstone.
And so, 1 Timothy, as well as the rest of the books of the
Bible, tells us that God has a plan and purpose for his people,
and that the church is a priority. The church of the Lord Jesus
Christ is a priority to God, and so it should be to us. As
we begin in the letter, we see that Paul, identifying himself
as an apostle, that is, one specifically ordained or set apart and sent
by Christ Jesus by the command of God, He's writing to Timothy,
the one who considers to be his true child in the faith. Timothy
is from Lystra. Having grown up there, he probably
observed the time when Paul, because of his faithfulness to
God, was nearly stoned to death in that city. But it was during
a second visit that Paul actually encountered Timothy in person,
and we read about that back in Acts chapter 16. in verses one
through five. Paul also came to Derbe and to
Lystra. A disciple was there named Timothy,
the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father
was a Greek. He was well spoken of by the
brothers at Lystra and Iconium. Paul wanted Timothy to accompany
him, and he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were
in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.
As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to
them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the
apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. So the churches
were strengthened in the faith, and they increased in numbers
daily." Timothy, we begin to see in Acts 16, becomes an indispensable
servant along with Paul. Paul considers him to be of extreme
importance, and he is with him throughout his journeys and ministries.
In fact, we find Timothy's name mentioned in 11 New Testament
books, obviously including the two that bear his name, but also
the book of Hebrews. He became a leader in the church
in Ephesus. That's how history remembers
him. He was someone, however, who seemed to struggle with physical
infirmities, as Paul addresses that matter even here in this
very book. but one who nevertheless was
faithful, and as we shall see next week, the one that Paul
sent for even in his very last days on this earth. The church
is a priority to the Lord Jesus, to God, Jesus, of course, having
given his life for us. And so the Bible tells us to
pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock. as he speaks
especially in this matter to those who are elders, those who
are leaders in the church. He says, pay careful attention
to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers,
to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own
blood. If you want to remember how important the church is,
we have only to remember that Jesus shed his blood for us and
that the church is of significance. And just because we have access
to the word of God in other ways than to come and hear it read
from a pulpit like this one, that doesn't diminish the importance
of the church. It is still a priority for us
to gather together as we struggle to do it over the course of this
last year and the COVID pandemic. We managed to do it, didn't we?
Wearing our masks and social distancing, washing our hands
and using the hand sanitizer over and over and over again.
So nice now to eat at a restaurant without my food tasting like
hand sanitizer. I mean, my hands are clean, but
to have that fresh sanitizer on there when you eat, there's
just nothing like it. But we know that the Lord Jesus
being the king and head of the church is God's gift to us. And
he put all things under his feet and gave him his head over all
things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him
who fills all in all. This is an extraordinary statement
that's echoed in Colossians, that this one who is over all
things is God's gift to the church, Jesus being king and head of
the church. And if you don't understand the importance of
that, Just think about how in history, particularly during
the Reformation, that the reclamation of this doctrine of the kingship
of Jesus over the church was at the core of that Reformation.
And in fact, that's why many met their deaths. I think in
particular of John Hus, who came 100 years before Luther, ministering
in what is now the modern Czech Republic, was burned at the stake
because he proclaimed salvation through faith in Christ alone.
But what got John Huss burned at the stake was not his emphasis
on the gospel. It's that he claimed that Jesus
Christ alone was king and head of the church, which ran, of
course, diametrically opposed to the papacy. And they burned
him to death because of that. This idea that Jesus is given
as a gift to the church, who is head over all things to be
the king of the church, is central to our understanding and to our
values. And it's emphasized here by way
of presupposition in this book. I hope to come to you soon, but
I'm writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know
how you ought to behave in the household of God. And as you
read through the book of Timothy, you see all of Paul's concerns
mentioned. He warns against false teachers.
He reminds them that Jesus came to save sinners. He gives us
here the command to pray. He says, first of all, I urge
that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving
be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions,
that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified
in every way. He talks about the way that church
leadership is to be structured. a passage of scripture that is
largely ignored in our day or misconstrued, but which is important. We see the qualifications for
those who are to be in these positions of leadership. And
here he speaks of the mystery of godliness. He goes on in chapter
four to talk about how some will depart from the faith, how the
Spirit expressly says that in the later times some will depart
from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings
of demons. through the insincerity of liars,
whose consciences are seared. We are seeing the church ravaged
today by false teachers and false teaching because we've gotten
away from scripture. We have ignored God's revelation
to us. But the church has a responsibility
to adhere to the truth, that we might proclaim it to the world.
gather from this passage that the church is the dwelling place
of God, a place where God meets with his people. And it is here
that the truth, once concealed, has now graciously been revealed
and proclaimed. He speaks of the mystery of godliness.
What is a mystery? Well, it is something that once
was hidden but now is revealed. A lot of mysteries in the world.
A lot of things remain hidden from our eyes. But God's word
is his revelation. And the word revelation in the
original means the lifting or parting of a veil so that you
can see beyond it to what otherwise was concealed prior to. This mystery is revealed to the
church, this mystery of godliness. But that God is pleased to dwell
among us is a wonder, isn't it? To think that as we sing his
praises, he dwells in the midst of his people. To think that
we can experience fellowship with him as we're together in
a way that is unique. Now we all may have fellowship
with God individually. We can worship individually in
our homes, or as I used to like to do it when I was walking in
the woods, or high up on a mountain. One of my favorite places in
the world is to be up on a mountain where I can hear absolutely nothing. I love the silence and the quiet.
in those places. And oh, how many times I've,
having carried my little pocket testament with me, have just
sat there in the woods under a tree and read and thought about
God's goodness. We can do that individually,
but there's no substitute for meeting together wherein we enjoy
God's presence. Where two or more are gathered
in my name, there I'll be present in the midst of them. Or as someone
has paraphrased it, if more than If one of you ever gets together
on anything, I'll show up and see it myself. The promise of scripture is that
God will be our God, and we will be his people. In the Revelation,
John says, and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell
with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will
be with them as their God. That's the promise all the way
from the Old Testament, the covenant that God made with Abram, promising
to be his God, and that Abram would be the father of many nations,
but a nation in particular that would be God's own people. So as we read here about this
building and the idea of a building, John R.W. Stott says some things,
I think, that are very helpful. He speaks of, first of all, as
we read here, about the foundation, or more to the point, the pillar,
the hedreomena. It's the mainstay of the building
and may refer, in this case, either to its foundation or to
a buttress or bulwark which supports it. In any case, It's the means
by which the building is stabilized. Now the stylos means pillar or
column, which not only holds the roof firm, but thrusts it
high so that it can be seen clearly even from a distance. The Temple
of Diana or Artemis, which was one of the seven wonders with
its 100 columns that Timothy would have been very familiar
with in Ephesus, each of those columns over 60 feet high to
display the marble white shining roof. Stott says, likewise the
church's function is not to advertise itself, but to display the truth. So meeting here together today
as we sing and as we read the scriptures together, among the
things that we're doing is displaying the truth before the whole world,
some of whom are watching. We've even had six people in
Fiji who have watched this service. I've tried to convince the elders
that maybe an associate pastor ought to travel out to Fiji to
pray with those people in person, you know, since they're tuning
in. They said they'd get back to me. So the church has a double responsibility
with regard to the truth. First, as its foundation, it
is to hold firmly to the truth. so that it does not collapse
under the weight of false teaching. Secondly, as its pillar, it is
to hold the truth high so that it's not hidden from the world.
To hold the truth firm is the defense and confirmation of the
gospel, says Stott. To hold it high is the proclamation
of the gospel. So holding firmly to confirm
it, lifting it up to proclaim it, the church is called to both
these ministries. And that's what we learn from
this particular passage. It's also important to note that
the Church exists to exalt and express the glorious person and
work of Jesus Christ. He, after all, is the embodiment
of the truth that is here revealed. When we sing and when we pray
and when we confess together the faith, whether we do it collectively
or whether we simply go about living our lives as believers,
we are proclaiming the Lord Jesus Christ and we exist for that
purpose. It is the Lord Jesus himself who declared just prior
to his own trial and death. And this gospel of the kingdom
will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony
to all nations, and then the end will come. We often look
at wars, earthquakes, and famines, or great storms as being harbingers
of the coming of the end. There are always those prophets,
would-be prophets, who show up in times like that, warning the
end is near. Well, Jesus says there will always
be wars and rumors of wars. And yes, of course, there will
be earthquakes and famines and other natural disasters as we
so describe them. But Jesus says the big news event
is this, is that the gospel will be proclaimed in the whole world.
That's the thing to pay attention to. Because every day, more and
more people are hearing the name of Jesus. Every day, more and
more people are hearing his name proclaimed in their own language. Bibles are being translated everywhere
into the languages of people. That's the big news event. You're
not going to see it on CNN, or Fox, or NPR, or ABC, or CBS,
or any of the others. They're focused on matters which
will gain ratings for them. It's like Jerry Springer is now
the way in which all news is presented. You remember when
that used to be an oddity? And now it's the norm. Well,
don't be deceived. Don't think that these things
that are reported as the big news events are actually the
big news that's happening. The big news is that more and
more people in Africa are coming to know Jesus. In South America,
they are coming to know Jesus. In the Near East, they're coming
to know Jesus. Did you know that there is an
individual in the last several years who reported that he was
in the nation of Iran? And one evening, he showed up
in one of the villages there where he was supposed to meet
with someone. And he went to the place of residence and knocked
on the door. And the person that he was looking for wasn't there.
He knocked on the neighbor's door. And that person wasn't
there. And he searched all over the village. And finally, he
found a place where he heard some noise. And he thought, oh,
everybody is here. And he knocked on the door. And there was silence.
One little girl came to the door and opened it and said, can I
help you? And he said, I'm looking for so-and-so. That person came
to the door and said, how can I help you? And the man told
about who he was. And come to find out, he was
a Christian missionary who was there in Iran. The door was opened. The entire village was meeting
in this one dwelling, including the mayor of that village, all
of them professing Christians in Iran, meeting in secrecy,
obviously, because of the huge threat that would come against
them. But the Lord is at work there.
The Lord is at work in China. He's at work in North Korea.
We're not hearing about it, but He's at work. And He's at work
right here, in spite of all that's being reported in the United
States. I can assure you that today, people will come to saving
faith in the Lord Jesus. How can I say that? Because I
believe that the gospel is the power of God to salvation to
everyone who believes. And when I say power of God,
I'm talking about real power. I'm not talking about a tiger
in your tank. I'm not talking about nuclear
fission. I'm talking about real power
that God demonstrates when lives are transformed. And it's this
gospel that we have the privilege of proclaiming. Do you know what
the answer to our nation's ills are? It's not found in the Democrat
or Republican parties. It's found right here in the
word of God. It is the truth that transforms lives. And we
need to remember. that we exist to exalt and express
the glorious work of Jesus Christ so that through the church the
manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers
and authorities in the heavenly places. Satan is finding out more and
more every day about God's glorious work. How? Because of the church.
That's a mystery. I can't begin to describe all
of that, but I'm telling you, your testimony is not only being
borne out and seen by those around you that you can visibly discern,
but by those invisible powers and authorities. I'm just simply
telling you what's in the Bible. I'm not making this stuff up.
So that when we praise the name of Jesus, we really are saying
something, something meaningful, something powerful, something
life transforming. And so as we look at this and
as we see this, probably what was a hymn that Paul draws from,
or perhaps he's the one who penned it, which I tend to think is
the case. I think this is a hymn that finds its origin right here
in 1 Timothy chapter 3, verse 16. He, that is the Lord Jesus,
was manifested in the flesh. He became flesh, as John pointed
out for us in his last message. God incarnate, he became one
of us. vindicated by the spirit. When
he was raised from the dead, God was saying, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. The debt had been paid. He was
pleased with the sacrifice. And he raised him gloriously,
vindicating him as the Holy Spirit did the work, witnessed by angels. Were there not angels at the
tomb when they came, looking for the body of Jesus, only to
discover that it wasn't there? The angel said, why do you look
for the living among the dead? He is not here, for he is risen,
witnessed by angels. proclaimed among the nations.
That's taking place right now. Believed on in the world, it's
happening right now. Taken up in glory. The Lord Jesus
will return and we will see his glory. We discussed a hypothetical
on Thursday evening about if Jesus came back in the way that
he came the first time, would people recognize him? Would they
listen to his message? And the consensus was no, we'd
treat him the same way now as happened then. Well, let me tell you something.
That won't be the case when he comes back. When he comes back the
next time, everybody will know it. There will be no question,
as he will be taken up in glory. Then the exaltation will be complete,
and we have the privilege of proclaiming it even now. And
so we're reminded that glory is the goal, and Jesus is the
way. As surely as Jesus is glorified following his sacrificial death
and resurrection, so we too look forward to following him. And
those whom he predestined, he also called. And those whom he
called, he also justified. And those whom he justified,
he also glorified. Paul describes this in Romans
chapter 8 as something so certain it is as if it has already happened. You see, God called you from
before the foundation of the world. You experience the reality
of salvation when you come to that place that you repent of
your sins and you trust in the Lord Jesus, whom you believe
died for you. I had to come to that place where
I realized Jesus died for my sins, sins that I've done, crimes
that I committed. He died for those upon the tree. I experienced that salvation
in the present. But oh, the best is yet to come. That glorious experience when
we will appear before him and see him as he is and be like
him. That's what Paul points Timothy
toward, and he does point all of us toward it, too. Memorial
Day is a somber occasion because, as we've already pointed out,
it is a time of remembering deaths, untold numbers of deaths. It boggles my mind to think of
all of those who have died in the wars that our nation has
fought. As I've stood at Arlington National
Cemetery and seen the row upon row upon row of all of those
marble markers and monuments, I look at those and I think,
those were children, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers. I think about all the grief.
that accompanied each one of those deaths. It's incomprehensible
to me. But every one of those points
us toward that ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made for our sakes.
So those other memorials are a means of causing us to look
to the ultimate place of remembrance, of living with the cross at the
center of our lives. of exalting Jesus with every
breath that we have and realizing that he really is the answer
to our ills. And so we pray for our nation,
not because we believe that somehow the United States of America
has replaced God's ordained and chosen people of the old covenant. We realize we're one country
among many countries. But being citizens of this place,
we pray for God's deliverance of us We pray that we might,
as a nation, more reflect God's will and purpose. But that will
only happen as the people of God meeting in the church, not
divided by national boundaries or political citizenship, only
as we recognize our true calling and purpose. And as we reclaim
the truth, hold firmly to it, that we might proclaim it to
the world. Will we even begin to see our terrible ills corrected? So you're part of the solution. You are God's ordained purpose
in this world by which his name will be magnified among the nations.
That's your calling. And at great sacrifice. You know,
I can't earn heaven. There's no possible way that
I could ever do anything to earn so much as a square inch of real
estate in that place. It's simply not possible. Everything
that I do would serve to move me further away from that glorious
goal. No, Jesus has done everything
that needs to be done. He has paid the debt and there
is nothing deficient about his life, death, or resurrection.
Anything that I would contribute would diminish. what Jesus ultimately
has done. And so we're able to receive
heaven as a gift because the inestimable price has already
been paid. We have the gift of freedom today
because others have paid a price. We have salvation because Jesus
has paid the price. And so let us remember Him. Let us live For Him, let us dedicate
our lives to Him and yield to Him as our Savior and our Lord
as we exalt Him together. May God bless America that we
may, as a nation, experience repentance and a turning to Jesus
in this generation as we have never seen before. That's the
hope of our nation. That's the hope of all nations.
May God grant it. Let's pray. Gracious Father,
bless your name. As we meet together here, we
realize that we are an unworthy people. And yet we pray for forgiveness. We pray, oh God, for a fresh
work of your Holy Spirit in which there might be a great turning
to Christ in our day. Lord, open our eyes. Convince us of
the need. Draw us unto Jesus. Begin the work here in Bay Presbyterian
Church. Lord, why not? You've done significant things
in the past in the most unlikely of places. And in all humility,
we can confess and acknowledge to you that we're as unlikely
as anyone. So Lord, begin with us. that
there might be a great movement of your spirit that would sweep
the land, that we might again recognize, blessed is the nation
whose God is the Lord. All this we pray in Jesus' name.
Amen. Let's stand together as we conclude
and sing together.
A Life that Endures
Series A Trip Through The Bible
| Sermon ID | 61211825201895 |
| Duration | 1:11:26 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | 1 Timothy 4:14-16 |
| Language | English |
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