(Upholder of the truth)
“I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; 15 but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth. 16 By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: He who was revealed in the flesh, Was vindicated in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Proclaimed among the nations, Believed on in the world, Taken up in glory.” NASB
“Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, 15 if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. 16 Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.” NIV
After his release from his first imprisonment in Rome Paul traveled and visited the churches in which he had ministered, including Ephesus. He then moved on to Macedonia, leaving Timothy behind in Ephesus to deal with some problems that had arisen in the church there.
So from Macedonia he wrote this letter to give Timothy further instructions as to how to deal with these difficult people who were upsetting the assembly, in some cases denying the deity of Christ and bringing in other false teachings.
Now Ephesus was not an easy place in which to minister. This is where Paul’s teaching nearly resulted in a riot when the makers and merchants of idols to the pagan goddess Artemis, also known as Diana, became afraid that people were going to follow after Paul’s teaching and hurt their pocket books.
In his first letter to the Corinthians (ch 15), Paul referenced his having fought wild beasts at Ephesus. Now there is some difference of opinion as to whether he was actually exposed to the teeth and claws of animals and God rescued him, or whether he is comparing the unsaved and hostile pagans of that city to wild beasts who according to their fallen nature and animal instincts would have torn him apart in this riot. (although at the end of 2 Tim he does reference having been delivered by God from the mouth of the lion, we don’t know where or when that happened)
In either case, Ephesus was not user friendly for ministers of the Word of the Lord, and hence the turmoil in the young church.
So here is this young pastor, Timothy, who is relatively new to pastoral ministry, and his seasoned, experienced mentor Paul has written this letter to give him help and direction.
That is the setting.
Now we come to the words of our text verses today and see that here, about midway through the letter, Paul announces his purpose in writing the things that he has been saying, and also some things that he will go on to say.
“I am writing these things to you…” then he says he wants to come back for a visit but just in case he is delayed, “…so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”
There is much that can be taught, of course, from the chapters that have come before, and also from other epistles of Paul where he addresses conduct in the church, spiritual relationships among believers, family relationships, direction for leaders and pastors and so on.
Today I simply want to call to your attention the fact that Paul has tied all of these teachings on conduct in with the reason those in the church should be conducting themselves in a Godly manner.
It is because, says he, the church is the church of the living God. As such she is God’s witness in the world, and also the pillar and foundation of the truth.
Using the imagery of pillars and foundations might have made the Ephesian Christians think of the Temple of Diana in their own city. It was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and was quite a monument to pagan religion and demonic worship practices. In his description of the temple William Barclay wrote:
“One of its features was its pillars. It contained one hundred and twenty-seven pillars, every one of them the gift of a king. All were made of marble, and some were studded with jewels and overlaid with gold” William Barclay, The letters to Timothy, Titus and Philemon (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975)
People traveled from all over the world to see this wonder, this amazing piece of architecture that was 425 feet long, 220 feet wide and 60 feet high, and it was the greatest source of civic pride for the people who called Ephesus home.
So Paul employs this imagery and says, the church, since she is the church of the living God is therefore the living church. The church has a responsibility to know the truth, to uphold the truth and to hold forth the truth. That is just a three point outline that comes naturally to the surface in these text verses.
So I want to approach it that way today, and I’ll tell you in the beginning that I am going to deliver possibly the longest introduction you have ever heard in a sermon – but then the three points will be brief.
I promise to get you out before the roast shrivels in the oven and before Applebee’s runs out of Strawberry Lemonade.
I’ve heard a story about a Puritan preacher. The Puritans were known for their lengthy sermons that lasted for hours at a time, often with many main points. This Puritan preacher took an entire morning and into the early afternoon with a sermon that had 65 main points.
At the evening service he stood and said “Now I am aware that my morning sermon was lengthy with many points. So to make up for it, my sermon this evening will be pointless”.
My sermon to you today will not be pointless, but it will not go into the early afternoon, either.
HYMN OF THE EARLY CHURCH
Going down to verse 16 of our text we see what most scholars have concluded was a hymn of the early church which they would have memorized for teaching and declaring the truths on which the church was built up.
He appeared in a body,
was vindicated by the Spirit,
was seen by angels,
was preached among the nations,
was believed on in the world,
was taken up in glory.”
Now there can be no doubt that this is about Jesus Christ. Paul has just said that the church is the pillar and support of the truth, and whenever these New Testament writers speak of the truth they are referencing the truth pertaining to the Gospel, or the good news of Jesus Christ.
So when he says ‘by common confession great is the mystery of godliness’, he is talking about the mystery from past ages that has now been revealed in the Person and work of Christ, and here are these six points of proof in this early hymn.
“He who was revealed in the flesh”.
The J.B. Philips translation says, “…the one who showed himself as a human being’. That is an accurate rendering, since the language used there literally means ‘to make visible’. This also confirms the pre-existence of Christ.
If someone has been made visible by coming into the world, the obvious inference is that that one existed invisibly before becoming visible, and he existed somewhere outside of the world.
Jesus had a body. Jesus was born. He said of Himself, “For judgment I came into this world” in John 9:39. He said, “I came that they might have life…” in John 10:10, and in numerous places we hear Him making statements like these, declaring that He came into the world for predetermined purposes. “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost”.
Any of us could say that we came here, came to this town, came to this church; we might even say that we have come to this moment, meaning our life has led up to this moment for a purpose or a special event; but we would all understand that what we are saying is that we came from some other place on the planet, and there was some place on the planet where we had a beginning.
Not so with Jesus Christ. He came to do the Father’s will, which was determined in the counsel of the Trinity before the foundation of the world.
This was an important distinction to be made for the Ephesians, many of whom had come out of worship of Diana, who they had once believed had fallen out of the sky from Zeus (Acts 19:35).
Friends and family, when people reject the truth of the Scriptures and the truth of the Gospel, they believe some pretty silly nonsense. Someone somewhere fashioned a statue of a woman with rows and rows of breasts, numerous arms, calling her the mother of the earth, showed it around town saying he had found it out in the woods because Zeus had dropped it out of heaven so they would have a visual experience when they worshiped Diana, and before you know it her statue is adorning the entrance to one of the wonders of the ancient world, a temple built in her honor.
She doesn’t speak, she doesn’t move among men to do anything for them, but she is worshiped in demonic rituals and takes up such a claw hold on the hearts and minds of men that when a scarred and bowed little Jew from Jerusalem comes in preaching the good news of a risen and reigning Savior they want to rip him to shreds.
Jesus came into this world, in the flesh, in a body, dwelling among us, God among men, to seek and to save that which was lost.
“Was vindicated in the Spirit”
He met every demand of the Spirit. That is to say, He was declared righteous.
Jesus was tempted in all things as we are yet without sin (Heb 4:15). He was sinless, the perfect God/Man, of whom Peter wrote:
“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” 1 Peter 2:21-22
Therefore He was vindicated in the Spirit. Romans 1:4
“…and who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.”
“Beheld by angels”
Beheld. The word means ‘to observe’, ‘to be attendant to’. The angels were there at His birth, they attended to Him at His temptation in the wilderness, in the Garden of Gethsemane, they were witnesses to His death and resurrection, and sat at His tomb waiting for the women who would come to find Him gone, so they could reiterate His command for the disciples to go meet Him in Galilee.
Folks, this is not “The Chronicles of Narnia” we are reading. It is not “Lord of the Rings”, or any other fantasy work.
This is the Bible, the Word of God. It is history, it is documentation of eyewitness accounts of things that happened, testified to by the very angels and by the voice of God Himself.
Jesus the Man died, rose bodily from the grave, vindicated by the Spirit in His sinless perfection having completed His redeeming work, and the angels watched it all happen.
Now the sequence of events is taken a little out of order here, which only verifies to me that this very likely was a hymn, since music writers have always been inclined to take liberties for the sake of poem.
Because the next line is that He was proclaimed among the nations, and then that He was believed on in the world, but we all know that prior to these things He was:
“Taken up in glory”
Again let me say, this is not myth, this is not fantasy. We are too jaded in 21st century society, having seen many of our favorite movie stars do amazing and impossible things through the miracles of special effects and digital virtual reality. And we say ‘whoa, that was cool’, but we know it’s not real.
Jesus had said to His disciples on the road to Emmaus, “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?”
The answer is, yes, it was necessary. It was necessary for the birth of the church.
He said in John 16:7, “…it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you”.
It was necessary that Jesus reenter the glory He had with the Father before the world was, so that, 1. The Father could make His enemies a footstool for His feet. 2. So that He could send the Holy Spirit to indwell believers, convict of sin, grant repentance and lead men to Christ to be saved. 3. So that He could lavish His gifts on His bride, the living church, giving her what would be necessary to do the work of ministry and build the Kingdom. 4. So that He could return to receive to Himself His purchased bride and take her to the place He has gone to prepare for her!
He couldn’t come back if He didn’t went!
One day in history, from the mount called Olivet about a mile east of Jerusalem, Jesus, the risen and glorified Savior, said His parting words to His closest friends, and then to their astonishment, He did something that they would later preach boldly, without embarrassment, without defensiveness, but just as a matter of fact; He rose up from the ground and ascended until He vanished into the clouds. That is fact, my friends; but listen… before He went, He promised to come back. Could one who rose bodily in defeat of death and then flew away to another world do what He said He would do? You’d better believe that He can and that He will.
“Proclaimed among the nations”
Well, this part of the hymn is simply a reference to the Apostles and preachers who went out to the nations to preach Christ and Him crucified and risen from the dead.
Jesus’ said to the eleven, “…you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” Acts 1:8
And they took Him seriously, because that is exactly what they did and the apostolic procession is that feet have carried that message generation after generation, in nation after nation, year after year and day after day, and all the forces of Hell have not been able to stop it; the gates of Hell have not stood against it.
As a result, He has been “believed on in the world”.
And the church, triumphant, marches on!
“’Tis the church triumphant singing, Worthy the Lamb!
Heav’n throughout with praises ringing, Worthy the Lamb!
Thrones and powers before Him bending, Odors sweet with voice ascending
Swell the chorus never ending, Worthy the Lamb!
Sing with blest anticipation, Worthy the Lamb!
Thro’ the vale of tribulation, Worthy the Lamb!
Sweetest notes all notes excelling, On the theme for ever dwelling,
Still untold, tho’ ever telling, Worthy the Lamb!”
(Tis the Church Triumphant Singing - John Kent)
Well, I told you my introduction would break records. Here’s my three points and I’m done.
THE CHURCH MUST KNOW THE TRUTH
This is a hymn of education.
This would have been sung to teach, and singing is a great teaching tool, isn’t it? We think of children’s programming such as Sesame Street and even going back to when some of us older folks were small, watching Captain Kangaroo, Howdy Doody and the Mickey Mouse Club and Sheri Lewis with Lambchop, and songs were very often used to teach, because when you get the tune and the words in your head, stuff sticks. Right?
I know a lot of you remember ‘Conjunction Junction’, and that Bill of Rights song, and you can probably sing the words even now.
So here is this six line hymn, and it encompasses the whole gospel. Jesus became a Man completed all that He came to do so that He was vindicated by the Spirit who brought Him up from the dead, to which even the angels were witnesses, then He ascended in glory to Heaven and this is now preached to all the nations with the result that many are coming to faith.
That’s what the song says, but it says it to music and to cadence so that it becomes a teaching tool.
Church, living church of the living God, it is your responsibility and your duty to know what it is you believe. By that I am not letting you off with being able to parrot back some shallow t-shirt sort of theology that says, ‘once saved always saved’, and ‘justified means it’s just as if I never sinned’, and go skipping merrily along unchallenged, when in reality if someone was holding your arm to a chopping block you couldn’t define the fundamental doctrines of the faith to save your hand.
You should know what is meant by the use of the word ‘justified’ when Paul says, “Having now been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”.
You should know and be able to clearly articulate what is meant by the word ‘sanctified’, or ‘sanctification’, when the Apostle writes, “…He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren”.
You should know and know so deeply that it brings a shout of ‘glory’ from way down inside you, what is meant by,
“through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Rom 5:2
What you know about what you believe has everything to do with the degree to which you are able to enter in and enjoy the fruits of your salvation, believer. You will never fully understand or appreciate what Christ has done for you until you understand these things taught in the Bible that constitute the foundation and framework of the Christian faith.
You as an individual Christ-follower are obligated by virtue of His having given you life and by His grace adopted you into His eternal family, to pursue Him and pursue His Word with the diligence of a thirsty doe seeking the mere trickle of a stream.
Next,
THE CHURCH MUST HOLD UP THE TRUTH
This is a hymn of remembrance
Another reason for singing this hymn in the church would have been to make certain that the truth wasn’t forgotten. That is precisely what Satan would love to have happen and what his fleshly minions throughout history have endeavored to bring about.
The French atheist, Voltaire, foolishly predicted that within 100 years after his death the Bible and Christianity would have disappeared from the human scene. He is quoted as saying, “If we would destroy the Christian religion, we must first of all destroy man’s belief in the Bible.”
In an article titled, “Faith, Fact and Voltaire”, former nuclear engineer, Walter Pasedag, who worked frequently in the Soviet Union with other scientists, says this:
“What concerns me most is not the elimination of prayer from our schools, nor the teaching of macroevolution as fact from Kindergarten to the University, nor the elimination of the Ten Commandments from public places… But what will do more damage to Christianity in the long term is the teaching that fact and faith are antithetical, or plainly stated, that facts and faith don’t mix.”
Later in the article the author demonstrates that more than half of seminary graduates in ministry, polled, believe that the Bible is neither accurate nor contains absolute truth. Then he says,
“Many tenured professors at (a prominent Protestant university in America) insist that they cannot strive for academic excellence and also teach Christianity. Although they consider themselves Christians, in their opinion, Christianity is devoid of ‘intellectual content!’ It is starting to look like Voltaire is getting his way!” http://www.biblearchaeology.org/post/2005/08/Faith-Fact-and-Voltaire.aspx
Christians, believers in the good news of Jesus Christ, this is not an option for you or for me; we must hold up the truth – the truth of the Gospel of Christ. Paul said we are the pillars and the support, or foundation.
The church is not the source, but the church is God’s own structure, His own building, His own household. As the writer to the Hebrews said, “…Christ was faithful as a Son over His house whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.”
I am not afraid that the church will disappear from the earth before its time; before God’s time. It will be here and it will move forward and the Word of God is forever. But Christians we have to be aware and alert to the fact that intelligent, diligent, driven people are out there who are slaves of Satan and would love to discredit and destroy the living church of the living God, and we must not back up one step from holding up the truth of the Gospel as the foundation and the pillars of God’s own house.
Many, many, many have suffered and died in the course of history because they knew that this was the duty of the Christian and it was their delight to give themselves for it. We must pick up the flag, so to speak, and run with it so as not to dishonor their memory and their sacrifice.
Believe it. Memorize it. Meditate on it. Study it. Defend it. Obey it. Live it.
THE CHURCH MUST HOLD FORTH THE TRUTH
This is a hymn of proclamation
Well, the church must know the truth, hold up the truth, and finally, hold forth the truth.
This hymn in our text is a hymn of education, a hymn of remembrance, and a hymn of proclamation.
There is not one hint given in all of the Bible to indicate that God is an isolationist or wants His people to be.
In the first chapter of Mark’s gospel we see this: “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Christians, there is no place in the church for the attitude that it is for the church leadership and for preachers to be the ones to proclaim the good news of Christ.
The word ‘theology’ means the study of religious faith, practice, and experience; especially : the study of God and of God’s relation to the world
If the church is supposed to know the truth, then that makes all of you theologians. You are students of the Bible and of God.
The word ‘preacher’ means to advocate earnestly. In the New Testament the word translated ‘preacher’ is kerux, meaning a herald or a messenger. (definitions of ‘theology’ and ‘preacher’ from Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth Edition)
If the church is to hold up and hold forth the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, then you are all preachers.
Have you gotten by now that when Paul says, ‘the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth’, he is not talking about a building or an earthly organization – but that he is talking about people – that he is talking about you?
You may have noticed that I titled this sermon ‘The Living Church’, although the text does not read that way but says the church of the living God.
But family, if we are of the living God then we are a living thing; as Peter said in his letter to the church,
“As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” 1 Pet 2:4-6
Church, living church of the living God, know the Truth, remember the Truth, proclaim the Truth. It is your duty – it ought to be your delight – and you have the promise of the very Word you hold up and hold out, that you will never be disappointed.
