The Centrality of the Church #1 - "Making God's Perspective on the Church Yours" (1 Tim 3:14-16)

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If you have a Bible and I hope you do take it in turn with me to 1st Timothy and chapter 3 1st
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Timothy chapter 3 1st Timothy chapter 3 and verses 14 through 16 1st
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Timothy chapter 3 verses 14 through 16 if you've got one of the red Bibles we give away that's on page 1052 page 1052 1st
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Timothy chapter 3 and verses 14 to 1052 -16 and If able to do so, can
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I invite you to stand with me one more time? to stand at this point in our service to Show our commitment to the
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Word of God and our reverence for it. So 1st Timothy chapter 3 beginning in verse 14 and reading through to verse 16
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Brothers and sisters, these are God's words. I write these things to you hoping to come to you soon
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But if I should be delayed I have written so that you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household
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Which is the Church of the Living God? the pillar and foundation of the truth and Most certainly the mystery of godliness is great.
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He was manifested in the flesh vindicated in the spirit seen by angels preached among the nations
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Believed on in the world taken up in glory Pray that God will bless that reading of his word and give us understanding of it
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Allow me to pray ask for the spirits help and we'll get to work in God's Word this morning. Let's pray together Well, Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.
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We thank you for the clarity that it brings we thank you for the guidance that it brings and Father we would simply ask as we open up your word that you would speak to us through it
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That as we think about a subject that we can be tempted to take for granted. I also your spirit would help us to grapple with and to understand
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The glory of the church this wonderful and amazing body that you have put together And father as you think about the church this morning
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We want to take a moment to pray for all of the churches here in our valley Lord, you know
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The state of the church is Bible in Revelation 1 pictures you as the Lord of the church who walks in its midst
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Lord, you know the state of every local church Father we thank you for those churches that are being faithful Who are holding to your word?
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we may not agree on every secondary and third level detail, but for those who are indeed preaching your gospel and Seeking to be faithful to your word.
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We thank you for them and we pray for Continued strength pay for Continued passion on the part of those who are involved pray that you would raise up men who would lead the churches in the ministry of the word and in the ministry of service
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Father pay them for those churches that may be struggling for one reason or another Lord You are the life of the church you give to its strength its vitality
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And so we ask father that for those churches that may be struggling or maybe beset by one weakness or another we pray that you would bring reformation and revival
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But they pray that for all of us that as we seek to serve you in this valley and to see those who don't know you
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Come to know you Father in the words of the psalm. We pray that you would revive us again that we would live in your sight
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And father be thinking that you give us the means of grace as one of the ways in which that happens And so as we partake of the primary means of grace now through the hearing of your word
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Pray that you would use this time in all of our lives to make us more like you We ask these things in Jesus name and for his sake.
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Amen Please be seated. I want for a moment to have you join me back in the year 2020
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Someone just said do we have to for the purpose of this thought experiment? Yes, we do I think we can all agree that 2020 was the year that the world changed in a lot of ways
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I'm not convinced all of it for the better, but that's a whole other conversation for another time Of course we all kind of grimace and we think of 2020 because that was the year of Covid When Covid hit
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It was well, February March of 2020 I Remember the year it started pretty well.
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We were expecting Gareth. Laura was well down the road on that front February 2020 was awesome.
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I got to go back to the UK I'm going to go celebrate my dad's 60th birthday It was there for a couple of weeks caught up with The church that's so dear to my heart that I was raised in and spent time with family and friends 2020 started really well got home went to the
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Shepherds Conference like I do every year had a great time Somehow didn't catch Covid there with thousands of people.
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But again conversation for another time and Then came home and within weeks
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The world as we knew it changed At that time our church was less than a year old.
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Our church was planted in June of 2019 so we were less than a year old when all of this was happening
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It was already a really tumultuous time in the life of our church and the whatever tumult We were experiencing was made worse by the fact that we were at least at the time thought banned from meeting together
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But the months that followed a lot was happening in the life of our church and it forced on my part some serious
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Introspection about what I understood about the church You see as I've had a little more time on my hands than usual I Began to realize that I had time to think and to study and to pray and to reflect
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I became I began to realize excuse me, that it's all too easy to assume a healthy understanding of what a church is
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On my own personal part for almost 10 years. I was a member of two very healthy churches. And so I just Yeah, I can say this
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I assumed more or less That okay if we all just know the pastors know what they're doing
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So as long as I just kind of just follow them in what they're doing Yeah, the church is healthy. I don't need to think about the internal workings of a church as such what a church is
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Well, we have we come together We've got leaders who open up the Bible and explain it and we're all kind of serving in different areas
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Yeah, I don't need to think about this But now I was in a position where okay, I'm involved in leadership in the church plot
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And honestly, I'm not quite as clear on the church as I should be Kind of a problem when fast -forward to May of 2021
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I start serving as a teaching pastor of the church. Now. I really need to be clear on this And so I did what
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I always do when I don't understand something I commit to studying and praying about it and as I did
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I Began to realize something. I began to realize that the church and when
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I use the church I'm gonna use the word church in two interchangeable senses Both local churches like we are gathered now this is a local church a local expression of the church and also the universal church all of God's people who have
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Placed their faith in Jesus and are brought together into a family called the church. I'm gonna use it in both senses
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I'll leave you to figure out which is which as I'm going But as I began to study into pray,
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I began to realize that My conception of the church was that the church was a part of my
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Christian life But as I began to read the New Testament and as I began to read the reflections of God's people for the last
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Really 2 ,000 years and how they viewed the church. I Began to realize that the church in God's design isn't meant to be just part of our
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Christian lives It's supposed to be central to our
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Christian lives And I began to realize that in fact not only is it meant to be central that it's more central than we often realize
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And so I began to read old books on the church because I began to realize very quickly I couldn't really trust a lot of modern stuff on the church so I started to read really old books on what the church was and What I discovered was that older writers had a view of the church
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That was very different To how I viewed the church. I mean, it's notice that the writers of generations past saw from the
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New Testament That the church was at the center of the
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Christian life That it wasn't just a part of our Christian lives, but the real stuff of Christianity happens outside of church
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But that the church was at the center of the Christian life. Allow me to give you one example Back in the 1860s a
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Scottish Presbyterian theologian called James Bannerman wrote a book called the Church of Christ A good book on the whole
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I disagree with parts here and there but especially the first half of the book I think is excellent. And in that book
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Bannerman says this is gonna be a bit of a long quote, but follow me here Bannerman says quote alone with God I must realize the
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Bible as if it were a message from him to my solitary self singled out and separated from other men and feeling my own individual responsibility in receiving and Rejecting it.
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His simple point is that When you come to God's Word God's Word is first and foremost speaking to you
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It's not speaking to the person next to you is not speaking to the person you think needs to hear it when we encounter
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God's Word we must first and foremost view God's Word as speaking to us
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He goes on he says but the Bible does not stop here It deals with man not only as a solitary unit in his relation to God But also as a member of a spiritual society
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Gathered together in the name of Jesus It is not a mere system of doctrines to be believed and precepts to be observed by each individual
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Christian independently of others and apart from others It is a system of doctrine precepts designed and adapted for a society of Christians This agreement incorporation of men holding the same faith and the same
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Savior is not an accidental or a Voluntary unit when it is voluntary in the sense that you can choose to do it or not, which has grown up of itself
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It is a union designed beforehand appointed from the beginning by God and Plainly contemplated and required on every page of the
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New Testament scriptures. In other words This idea of the church is not a
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Negotiable part of Christianity Bannerman argued. He says that you see it required on every page of the
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New Testament But that's not all he had to say He goes on there are precepts in the
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Bible addressed not to believers separately or individually But to believers associated together in a corporate society
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There are duties that are enjoined upon the body and not upon the members of the body which it is imposed
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There are powers assigned to the community to which the individuals of the community are strangers there is a government and order a code of laws a system of ordinances and offices described in Scripture, which none other than Excuse me, which which can apply to none other than a collective
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Association of Christians Bannerman goes on this. I'm gonna put on screen. I want you to see it. He goes on and he says
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Without the existence of a church or of a body of believers as contradistinguished other words as opposed to from believers individually very much of what is contained in the
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Bible would be unintelligible and without Practical in excuse me practical application
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Me read that last sentence again. Very much of what is contained in the Bible would be unintelligible and without practical application for a moment
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I was gonna ask one question What is your response when you read words like that?
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How does that hit you? Normally, I don't ask that question when I preach but I am gonna ask you in this instance And I'd like to say that Bannerman is alone in that but as I read authors from the past they all seem
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Baptist and Presbyterian Anglican and Methodist like Early church fathers who had no strict denomination you because they all seem to say statements like this
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And I'll be honest. Can I tell you how
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I felt when I first started reading stuff like this? It made me very uncomfortable But I was talking to my in -laws about this yesterday our natural nature when something is uncomfortable.
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We just want to get rid of it Instead of asking the question, why does this make me feel uncomfortable?
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As some of you know a couple of months ago. I was having an issue with my foot I was limping around like I couldn't walk It really hurts at points
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But my response was not although I felt like it on some days cut my foot off. The response was
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I should probably go Talk to my doctor and figure out what's going on here Why because the feeling of discomfort isn't something that you should ignore it's supposed to lead you to action
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That's what I asked myself. Why do I find this so uncomfortable and Then I it began to hit me
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The reason I find this uncomfortable is as much as I love God's word as much as I love the church I don't have as high a view of the church as some of our fathers in the faith did and I think well
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Why don't I and then it hit me? Well, I'm a child of my times Think about this We often use this phrase and it's
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I don't think it's a bad phrase in and of itself We'll talk about our personal relationship with Jesus or our personal relationship with the
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Savior Which by the way, if you're a Christian you do have a personal relationship with Jesus You do have a personal relationship with the
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Savior. That's a glorious and wonderful privilege of being a Christian But oftentimes and maybe you've encountered this if you've been around church enough we kind of talk about our personal relationship with Jesus as though that's the important part the church part is
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At best a happy by -product of that and the reality is the
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I Think we've lost something of the centrality of the church in the plans and purposes of God that's why for the
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Beginning of by the end of this year in the beginning of next year this Sunday and next I Wanted to take some time to deal with what
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I've entitled recovering the centrality of the church Because I want to put it to you
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That the church is not just a you know By -product of our relationship with Jesus that actually it's an essential part of that relationship
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I think we can agree if you look around the church by large not every Christian loves the church We some love the church and I'm I happen to think that if you're here you probably are among those folks
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So that's great, but we can agree. There are lots of Christians who don't necessarily love the church And so for a moment,
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I want you to think with me. Let's think about some reasons why people might not love the church Why might some people struggle with the idea of the church?
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I'll try and make this quick, but I've got five reasons I think and there are a lot more we could add I think for one thing individualism is a big part of it individualism is just a fancy way of saying that We primarily view ourselves as individuals and individuals alone.
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I'm speaking to a primarily American audience If I use the term rugged individualism, most of you know what that means
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It's a good thing in a lot of ways But think about this for a moment when we think about the church
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American culture and as a result Western culture since in lots of ways
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America sets the Thermostat if you will for lots of cultures around the world American culture and as a result
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Western culture as a whole prizes rugged individualism to varying degrees above everything else
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Which is great If you want to climb the corporate ladder If you want to buy a house or start a business that is great and wonderful the fact that you are not necessarily
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Dependent on other people to be able to realize your dreams in that sense. That's a great and wonderful thing
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We should be thankful for but the problem is that can lead us to think sometimes that oh the church
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I don't really need that as much I'm good on my own
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That's one reason another reason another big fancy word for you this morning anti -institutionalism is another problem here's my simple definition of Anti -institutionalism
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Individuals good organized groups of individuals bad mostly We shouldn't but let's be honest.
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Most of us hate the government You know the Bible kind of rebukes us all on that one
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We should honor the government even if we don't necessarily like the government, but the reality is
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We don't like the government because for lots of people the government is a faceless institution that ruins everything
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Not entirely untrue sometimes but again conversation for another time
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We hate big corporations money -grabbing thieves that they are that don't care about people. We hate Organizations in general unless they benefit us the individual
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So if a church looks a little too organized or it looks a little bit too structured think about this
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How many people do you know dislike churches because the church seems very organized and structured true
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Christianity's is free -flowing We can do what we want You said that How many times have
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I heard that one follow the spirit? The spirit just doesn't do stuff like that read the book of Acts actually he does
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But there's a again a world of assumptions we bring to that Again, we are people of our time.
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There was a thing in this country called the second great awakening I have my thoughts about the second great awakening one of them is that an
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Unfortunate byproduct of that was the local churches got sidelined because God was doing his best work outside of local churches and of course, there's the reality that The visible church is not always its own best friend in recent years
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We've heard story after story after story of spiritual abuse sexual abuse and cultural compromise within the church and people can look at that and I think answer fantasy
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But if that's what the church is about, I want no part in that So there's individualism as a problem.
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There's anti -institutionalism. This is gonna be a long intro by the way long intro and We'll get to the message soon enough.
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I promise And for some it's just convenience Everything about we are the most convenience driven society arguably to have ever existed
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Think about this in an age where I can get my groceries dropped off of my front door.
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My wife signed up for Walmart Plus It's pretty convenient Like, you know, she pushes a few buttons.
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In fact, I don't even know. I don't even need to know when it happens and Then she'll just get up go open the door.
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Oh groceries are here. That's great. If I'm hungry,
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I can push a few buttons and Someone will bring a meal to my house.
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I Don't have to leave what I'm doing. They'll just bring it to me if I don't know something
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I can Google it I can ask she who will not be named because all your phones will go off You know what
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I'm talking about And she will answer me in seconds. All of those are great wonderful things.
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I use The thing that begins with S on my iPad a lot. I Use Google.
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I've ordered meals on DoorDash before and I've ordered groceries at the house using Instacart before They're all great and wonderful things.
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They're conveniences. What's the problem with convenience when it comes to the church? What we know is you've been around church long enough church is not always convenient is it and if we are the products of society that count that can't countenance the idea of Anything being hard or difficult.
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Well, why would you deal with the church? Just this week as I was preparing this message
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I read a bunch of surveys that said that the new trend among people who are looking for churches is Catch this they were churches that are quote low commitment
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Low in expectations, this was not me. This is a survey that was done. There are low commitment low in expectations and Don't require me to alter or change my present lifestyle
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And the sad thing from this survey was lots of churches were willing to do just that Rather than why don't you
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Bible argue what the Bible says we should do which is to disciple people up to God's standards
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What are we doing? We are lowering the church's standards Because let's be honest the reality is church is messy
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Mean it just is It's glorious. It's God -ordained. It's beautiful. And yet it is messy
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And if I have the option of something more convenient, why would I not take it? Why commit to the messiness of church when you can make things easier?
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I Got to keep moving sentimentalism is another problem another big fancy word for you this morning Viewing the church through sentimental lenses one of my favorite preachers.
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Dr. Vodie. Welcome. He calls this the effective principle of worship
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The effective principle of worship in other words to do with the affections church is right when it makes me feel good
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For some that's tied to some nostalgia. They think of church when they were growing up. Our church was great That's where I made friends and I you know, it was always such a warm comforting place it was a societal place where we all got together and so Churches are like that anymore
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So I don't really like church or I'm going to chase churches that make me feel that feeling
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I had in the past For some it might be nostalgia for others is this very therapeutic air in which we breathe
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The church is here primarily to help me deal with my problems and to make me feel better as a result
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The church is basically mass therapy. I Have no problem with therapy when it's done well and according to biblical principles so, please don't hear me as saying therapy is bad far from it, but If your understanding of the church is primarily driven by sentiment and not by truth but what happens when a church doesn't meet your sentimental needs and the danger is that even for Christians who hold to the
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Bible this book as our rule of faith and Practice there is still a danger that we can reinterpret the
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Bible on Sentimental terms I read verses or I read stuff and Immediately, I think well, it must mean this because this makes me feel good
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Including how we view the church, but of course
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Always I have to talk about this when I get the chance biblical and doctrinal illiteracy is half the problem
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Personally, I think this is like top three of all problems everywhere when it comes to church
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We just don't know God's Word to the degree that we ought to and part of that problem of widespread biblical and doctrinal illiteracy the fact that we don't know the
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Word of God and the doctrines it teaches as well as we should part of the Danger of that is we don't know what the
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Bible says about the church like we should Just in case you weren't sure
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I happen to agree with Bannerman There are large parts of your Bible that made no sense. If you don't have a healthy functioning understanding of the church
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But can we agree as you scroll through all of these various reasons that the church and particularly the doctrine of the church?
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Excuse me has hit hard times and I costed all mine back to Kovac I wanted to walk you through the journey that I've been on But also think about what happened with so many during Kovac we all go into an idea
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I'll go into it but Yes, the gathering of the church is important, but we can substitute it with something else
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And guess what a bunch of evangelicals believe that the numbers still say that in 2023 three years removed from those events in the early part of 2020
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Most recent numbers I read 20 % of people who left the church still haven't come back the church is taking a few hits
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And so I purpose that when I began to serve in regular teaching ministry How redeem that while I wasn't going to make this a hobby horse, you know
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I mean when I say a hobby horse, you know a subject I constantly come back to all the time But I was a big book.
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I want to talk about all of it Not just the parts that I think are important But I did want to make sure that every now and again
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I would come back to deal with some of these themes relating to the church And so I figured on the cusp of a new year.
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This might be a good time to do some of that And so with that in mind, like I said I want to take this
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Sunday the last one of the year and next Sunday the first one of 2024 to talk about the church and specifically
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To talk about the centrality of the church in the Christian life All right, that's my long intro over let's come to our passage
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Before we come to our particular verses since we're parachuting into 1st Timothy chapter 3 We might need to do a little bit of background on this letter as a whole 1
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Timothy 2 Timothy and Titus these three letters traditionally are called the pastoral epistles
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Steve Meister who you'll get to meet in February Clued me into something in a sermon series. He preached a few years ago through these letters where he made a very good point that Technically neither
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Timothy nor Titus were pastors they were more like Interim pastors that Paul sent in to get these churches on their feet, but they weren't pastors in the typical sense
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They weren't placing themselves in one congregation for the rest of their lives serving that body
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Paul sends Timothy and Titus and a few others to different churches all the time And so technically my friends as these should be called the church epistles
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Not just the pastoral epistles I think he's on to something and as you come to this first letter of Timothy Paul gives us three reasons why he's writing
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So you're in chapter 3 turn back a couple of pages to chapter 1 1
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Timothy chapter 1 and the first reason comes to us in verse 3 and 4
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First reason he writes this letter Timothy was to safeguard the health of the church by identifying and fighting off false teaching
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So 1 Timothy 1 3 & 4 as I urged you when I went to Macedonia Remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people
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Not to teach false doctrine or to pay attention to myths and endless genealogies
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These promote empty speculations rather than God's plan which operates by faith
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So the first reason Paul writes to Timothy is to remind him that he is to safeguard the health of this local church in Ephesus by identifying and Fighting off false teaching, but there's a second reason he gives so we're still in chapter 1 jump down to verse 18 so verse 18
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Timothy number 2 was to safeguard his own Effectiveness in ministry by remembering his
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God -given assignment so verse 18 Timothy my son
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I am giving you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies previously made about you so that by recalling them
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You may fight the good fight So Timothy's to safeguard the health of the church by identifying and fighting off false teaching and he's to safeguard his own
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Effectiveness in ministry by remembering his assignment if you're taking notes, you can add chapter 4 verse 16
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I won't read it, but that's another verse which talks about Paul's Timothy. Excuse me safeguarding his own effectiveness in ministry and Then there's a third reason which is the text that we are going to look at this morning the third reason
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Paul writes his letter is that Timothy was to safeguard the church by Remembering the mission and identity of the church
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Timothy was to safeguard the church by remembering the mission and the identity of the church
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And in the verses that we're going to consider Paul is going to give us some valuable insight into how
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God views his church That's why
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I've titled this morning's message Making God's perspective on the church your perspective because I think we can all agree the only perspective on the church that ultimately matters is
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God's perspective and If God's perspective is the only one that matters
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But what needs to happen is not we form the church according to our perspective But we make
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God's perspective on the church his own and I think the verses that are before us will give us
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God's own Perspective on the church my big idea for this message is a simple one
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That we can't love the church Until we understand and embrace
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God's perspective on the church That regardless of what's going on in culture around us and regardless of what goes on With our own internal feelings about the church.
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We cannot come to love the church We cannot come to make the church central to our
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Christian lives Not until we understand and embrace
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God's perspective on the church So again my big idea for this message
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We can't love the church until we understand and embrace
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God's perspective on the church Well as we think about perspective on the church this
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Morning for the rest of our time. I want to consider Paul's three inspired descriptions of the church
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We're gonna get three descriptions of the church that Paul gives us and as we look at these descriptions
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I want you to see how they can help you to have God's perspective on the church so Paul's three inspired descriptions of the church and How they can help you have
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God's perspective on the church So three descriptions
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I've already taken up half my time so I'm gonna have to be very quick here I also might not finish this message today.
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Pray for me that I do But three descriptions because if you're going to have God's perspective on the church that can't happen without point number one
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Recognizing that the church is God's disciplined family The church is
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God's Disciplined family. So look at verse 15 of our text verse 15 is really where we're going to camp in this message
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Paul intended to come to Timothy. He said I might be delayed and so he says but if I should be delayed verse 15 I have written so that you will know how people ought to If you're the marking type in your
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Bible, you're not gonna mark this word conduct themselves How people ought to conduct themselves in God's household
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Paul reminds Timothy that the church first and foremost is God's household Now this idea of a household isn't an uncommon picture in the
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New Testament So Galatians 6 10 says that we should work for the good of all, but especially those who are of the household of faith
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My favorite book in the New Testament, which is the book of Hebrews Hebrews chapter 3 verse 6 speaks of the church and says that we are
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God's household If we hold on to our confidence in the hope in which we boast
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Peter will say in first Timothy 4 17 that judgment was to begin with God's household
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So this is a picture that is common to the New Testament this idea of the church as God's household as God's Family, but we have to be very careful that we don't import 21st century meanings of what a family or household was into the
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Bible You see in the first century a household was not just mom dad and a few kids
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Households were actually quite large and they often included non blood members like slaves and temporary servants and The thing that kept a household together wasn't just family ties true as that was it was also structure and order
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More wealthy households typically had someone called a household manager His job was to make sure everything in the house rang smoothly the education of the children the provision of day -to -day needs finances in Less wealthy households
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There was still an expectation that every member played a role to some degree In fact in the ancient world, you could find these things that were written.
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They were called household codes They laid out Responsibilities and roles in the home and ways to ensure that our home a household ran smoothly
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In fact, you've read some of them. You didn't know that that's what they were So when Paul starts talking in Ephesians 5 about wives submit to your own husband's husband's love your wives
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Children obey your parents in the Lord parents. Don't provoke your children to anger. He's using the form of the first century household code
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Colossians 3 and 4 he does a similar thing Same thing first Peter 2 2 and 3 first Peter chapter 2 and 3, excuse me
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Those of you who were here a couple summers ago. We worked our way through first Peter Same thing they all follow the same structure of a household code tweaked, of course to reflect the gospel
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But as one writer puts it just as there are rules of accepted behavior relationships to observe and Responsibilities to fulfill within a household so there are analogous patterns to be observed in God's Church therefore believers must know how to behave as Members of God's household.
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Have you ever thought about that? But there's a way that we should behave as the church Oftentimes we can have this idea that the church is just an amorphous get -together of folks who like each other and like Jesus Now, yes, the church is a gathering of people who like each other.
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At least you hope you they like each other People who like each other and more than that should love one another and we love
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Jesus, of course But I think that there's a danger that we can fall into where we simply think that the church is just About getting together and hanging out
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You see the church is indeed a family and like any good family it's a finely tuned balance between warmth and familiarity and genuine love and care and Structure and order on the other hand and Here's the thing
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I think sometimes churches can get wrong we can lean too heavy in one direction or another So there are churches that they are very good on warmth and familiarity.
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They're extremely friendly But heaven help you if you can figure out what's going on in this church
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And then there are churches where the theme verse of the church is what
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Paul says in 1st Corinthians 14 let all things be done decently and in order and They are cold and uncaring and there is no warmth and vitality there
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So, let me be clear. There's a danger to leaning one way or another way too hard Yes, a church needs care and love for one another
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Paul says in 1st Corinthians 12 If taking those first readings 1225 that the members of the body are are supposed to have the same
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Concern for each other and so of course there is warmth and familiarity that should characterize the church
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But I put it to you that Paul's not focusing on that part of being a family here Why because of that word
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I told you pay attention to conduct? Yourselves or how people should conduct themselves
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That what conduct carries this idea of following through on a set of principles or a set of guidelines there's an orderliness a
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Discipline in the positive sense of the word that the church operates on Let's be honest, it might be cute to keep things light -hearted and unstructured and have no expectations and no commitments, but Can I put you that the church is the kind of family that operates the right way?
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I mean think about your families I don't know the background of the families you came from But I've observed that the best families the happiest families the healthiest families are those that have that balance of lightness and joy and freedom
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But it's very clear that there are rules and structure here And that's how
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God has designed his church to be the church is the church when it maintains
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That balance and it maintains it. Well Okay, so if you're willing good what does this have to do with the church being central isn't that the title of the message today
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Well simple The reason why the church should take care
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Reason why Paul says to Timothy that you should take care to think long and hard about how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household in his family is because when the church holds that balance of love and discipline of warmth and structure of care and of the word skates in the world
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I'm looking for almost a sense of Duty in the positive sense of the word when a church holds that balance
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The right way it does so for the benefit of its members Let me put it another way just like earthly families provide
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Stability and comfort for their members. The church is designed by God when it's functioning healthily to minister
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Christ's love and Christ's stability to his people That's why
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God gives to his church the means of grace these simple things that build up his household of redeemed sinners
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And so if we're going to have God's perspective on the church We have to understand God's perspective as one of the church being
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God's disciplined family But we're going to view the church from God's perspective point number two
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We also need to be reminded of the fact that the church is God's called -out gathering The church is
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God's called -out gathering So again come back to verse 15 He says but if I should be delayed
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I've written so that you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household Which is the church of the
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Living God Paul expands on his previous
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Definition that the church is not just a household He says it is indeed the church of the
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Living God I've used the word church a bunch in this sermon At least in my notes.
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I had the word up to this point in my notes 78 times You'll probably start counting after I've said that see how many times
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I can say the word church in this sermon If I imagine we use this word all the time
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Oh, I'm going to church or I go to this church or I'm a part of a church We use this word so often, but what's the saying familiarity breeds?
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Contempt and we may not feel contempt towards the church that that may be too strong a word But it becomes so familiar.
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We don't really think about what this word means anymore So for a moment, let's review some basics The term that your
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Bible uses for church only uses one word The term the Bible uses for church is actually a pretty general word in the day of the
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New Testament it was used for example when the Lawmakers came together. So it would be the equivalent of our
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House of Representatives or the Senate coming together When they were in session that was a this word casual get -togethers parties and such are called this
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If that's even the nation of Israel in the wilderness Acts chapter 7 are called this and that's up 7
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Stephen is preaching that excellent sermon when he walks through an empty of history and he says that God spoke to the
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Assembly in the wilderness if you'd like me you go from the King James Bible It doesn't say the assembly in the wilderness It says the church in the wilderness because it's the exact same word
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Of course, the major way the New Testament uses this word is for the gathering together of God's people
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But think about those examples. I just gave you lawmakers and legislators coming together a
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Casual get -together or a party The nation of Israel in the wilderness.
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What do all of those things have in common? Talk to me for a moment. What do they all have in common?
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Gathering they all involve individuals gathering together as a collective unit
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In fact, the word that is often translated church comes from two words the word for out or from and the word to call
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But you've called out a group of people to come together coffee why are you laboring that point?
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Well, very simple Now the music example, maybe this will help how many of you have heard people say things like I Don't go to church because I am the church
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Well, I don't have to go to church to be the church I'll it's posturing in this valley and meeting people from all walks of life as I do
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Even pre -covid I'm gonna blink over it for this one pre -covid I would encounter people who they kind of have this habit
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They're here for a while then they leave here bounce to this church bounce to this judge And they don't go anywhere for a while and then they might go somewhere and when you catch up with them
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Hey, I haven't seen you in a while. Where are you going to church right now? Oh, I don't I'm not really going to a church right now.
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You know, I don't have to go to church to be the church Here's the problem with that.
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I Mean, I spent several hours this week thinking about this and trying to get my my lens on what's the problem?
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Here's the problem. It just don't make no sense Excuse the bad grammar, but it just don't
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We'll talk more about this next week when we talk about what the church does when it gathers when we look at Hebrews 10 But catch this for now the church by its nature the pew the funny $5 time for this the church
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Intrinsically within itself by its nature is a gathered entity Maybe go.
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Why are you hammering this point simple an individual can't gather? What's the same one anyway
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No, the church is a cold gathering. It's called together not by political allegiance or by social class or by shared hobby
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The church gathers because the Bible makes us to understand we share a common calling in salvation
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You see when you became a Christian and God sent forth his
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Effectual powerful call to your soul and you came to him. He didn't just call you to an individual salvation
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He did call you to an individual salvation. Let me not let me not be misheard here Yes, when you became a
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Christian God saved you as an individual by his grace It's a call to individual salvation, but it's not just that It's a calling to a shared life
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Together God is faithful You and by the way, the you there is plural
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My friends in the South have a word that they have I think is one of the greatest inventions in English language you'll
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You were called by him Into fellowship with his son Jesus Christ our
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Lord. God doesn't just call us in salvation to an individual salvation
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He calls us to participate in each other's lives as people who have been saved and transformed and united together by his grace
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That's why it's so critically important that we gather together as God's people Gathering is not just something we do because there's a tradition and Christians.
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Well, that's what we do We go to church together on Sunday No, here's what's happening as we gather as we gather together as God's people.
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We are giving physical expression To a spiritual reality
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Let me say again as we gather we are giving physical expression We are physically coming together as a people and we are giving physical expression to a spiritual reality
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That God has called us all together By his grace In one sense, it's tied to the point.
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We just made if the church is a family which it is and And if we as members of that family should seek to grow in our closeness to one another which we should and If we're going to grow in encouragement and service to one another more about that next week, but sure answer we should
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If all of that is true, then we have to be committed to spending time together as God's people
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Anglican pastor and Bible teacher John stopped summarizes it like this Quote when the members of the congregation are scattered during most of the week
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It is difficult to remain aware of this reality. Just the one we just talked about But when we come together as the church the assembly of the
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Living God Every aspect of our common life is enriched by the knowledge of his presence in our midst and our worship
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We bow down before the Living God through the reading and exposition of his word. We hear his voice addressing us
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We meet him at his table when he makes known to us With which when he makes himself, excuse me known to us through the breaking of bread in our
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Fellowship, we love each other as he has loved us and our witness becomes bolder and more urgent indeed
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Unbelievers coming in should be able to confess like Paul that God is really among you gathering matters
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I can just say this up from should another covert event happen and I'm not conspiracy theorist, but I have strong reasons.
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I think that we'll probably hear about something like this again sooner rather than later Should another covert event happen
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I can tell you right now as the pastor of this church We are still gonna meet why because I've come to the conviction and Kovac only made this worse for me
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I've come to the conviction that a church isn't a church when it can't gather I have so much more like to say but I'm well over time and I still got a whole point to get to If you're gonna view the church from God's perspective you've got to recognize that the church is
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God's disciplined family It is called out gathering. But there's a third picture that I want us to consider quickly If you're gonna view the church from God's perspective you have to recognize that the church is number three
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God's truth driven Temple the church is
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God's truth Driven temples again. Look at verse 15. I Have written so that you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household which is the
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Church of the Living God the pillar and foundation of the truth knowing a little bit of the background of Ephesus might be helpful to fully getting what
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Paul's saying here. Like I said, Timothy is sent on apostolic deployment to Ephesus Ephesus was home of one of the seven wonders of the ancient world
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This thing called the temple of Diana. It was an impressive structure and One of the things that made it impressive was it had these 100 of them nearly 60 foot pillars that held up a solid
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This wasn't just a coated it with marble. It was a solid marble roof that held was held up by these pillars and It was set up on a hill so you couldn't miss it if you lived in the city of Ephesus When Paul employs this picture, he's being highly intentional
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He's using a picture that Timothy and all who would have heard this in the first century that they would immediately understand and He's using this picture to teach us a little something about the church and its relationship to the truth
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Two points and I'll be done. I'll try and make this as quick as I can first of all The church holds up the truth
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Before watching world the church holds up the truth before watching world. So Paul describes the church as the pillar of the truth
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It's the pillar because it's God's vehicle for the truth to be seen in this world it holds up and holds forth the truth
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Think about this with me for a second the Great Commission The call of the church to go and to make disciples
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That's given to the church Individual believers play a role in that mission, but the mission is not think about this.
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It's not given to individuals. It's given to the church the element and deployment of disciples into gospel ministry
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The way that that ordinarily happens not what happens in the world as it is the way it's supposed to happen is that it happens through the church
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That's why first Timothy and Titus are the only two books that have the elder qualifications in them
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Not by accident Paul is reminding both Timothy and Titus that it is the church's job to you discover to develop and to deploy workers into full -time gospel ministry
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We might use outside means to supplement the work of the church But God's chosen vehicle is his church
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In a variety of ways the church is designed by God to put the truth on display to a world around us
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But not only does the church hold up the truth before watching world the truth the church, excuse me also holds up the truth in the face of attack
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You see sometimes the sometimes the the church is in the uncomfortable position of having to speak
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The truth when is the polar opposite of what the world the flesh and the devil wants?
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And so Paul says that the church is not just the pillar of the truth it's the foundation of the truth
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Interesting that one foundation. I don't think it's actually the best way to translate this Translators often pick this work and it's an easier one to use but it's not talking about the foundation that you build on It's more this idea of in all the buildings used to have these things called buttresses
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These sort of flow out structures that basically secured walls and kept them secure kept them far so they didn't topple over That's the way that he uses here that sometimes the church has the unique assignment of Having to defend the truth in the face of attack.
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I mentioned the world the flesh and the devil That's the Christians threefold enemy Your enemy hates the truth
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Especially the devil he throws everything at the church knowing that he can get think about this If the devil knows that if he can get the church to doubt the truth to distort the truth or to disobey it
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Which is what he did all the way back in the garden. He hasn't changed He's not that original if he can get the church to doubt distort or disobey the truth that he can claim a small win even though he's lost the war and sometimes that position of defense might have to come from outside as the world and the flesh say things about the church and Sometimes sad to see the defense of the truth has to happen within the walls of the professing church.
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I Wish it wasn't the case, but this was the case in the Apostles era Paul says it I Chapter 20 verse 30.
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He says men will rise up even from your own number not from out there in me and Distort the truth to lure the disciples into following them in every age.
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There is this problem as a Apologist Douglas Greutheiser wrote a book years ago called truth decay not tooth decay, but truth decay and His point very simply was that in every age the church faces this temptation to Depart from the truth and that the truth becomes a little less valued and as a result truth decay sets in But Paul says that that's not
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God's design for the church The church is not just to be a place where the truth is loved and held internally. It's a place where the truth is defended which by the way if that's the case and the church can't say truth doesn't matter a
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Church can't shave off that uncomfortable edges of the truth to be more palatable because that's not its job
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It's not a church's jobs today Say well, we can't say that because people won't like us if we say that that's not the point
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The point is the church is there for the defense of the truth
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And what's at the heart of that truth Well verse 16 Look at verse 16
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Paul says and most certainly the mystery of godliness mystery in the New Testament is a truth that was hidden But has now been revealed
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The mystery of godliness is great. He was manifested in the flesh vindicated in the spirit seen by angels preached among the nations believed on in the world taken up in glory
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Is he beloved the the truth is not just the abstract set of ideas
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I Mean, yes to be sure truth is a body of ideas and concepts and things to be believed
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But beyond that you see for the church the truth finds its focus not in a set of principles but in a person
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The truth finds its focus in a person who took on flesh to fulfill all righteousness
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Died for our sins a person who rose from the dead in the power of the Spirit confirming once and for all that he was indeed
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God's promised Messiah a person who ascended into the presence of God surrounded by all of God's Holy Angels a person who is at the center of all that we preach and proclaim a person who we believe in and find rest in and receive by faith a
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Person who we know will come back again in all of the glory that he entered into when he left this world ultimately
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Ultimately the church of the church should be central because at the heart of the church is not the church itself
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You don't know about this at the the church doesn't exist for itself at the heart of the church is a man who is named
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Jesus and This man Jesus the Bible says is able to save anyone who comes to him by faith.
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I'm pretty much done Why is the church why should the church be central Ultimately the church would be central because Jesus is central to the church
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Can I put you that I'll leave you with this the church matters because Jesus matters
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If Jesus didn't matter none of this matters, but if Jesus matters then the church matters
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And so we can't just be content to be on the periphery of what God is doing in and through the church
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No, we should seek to Make the church central because at the center of the church is the one who died for it
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And Heavenly Father we thank you for that man who died for us We thank you that his blood and his body were the price
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To bring us back to you We thank you for him. We thank you for all that he's done for us
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We pray that we would love his church as much as he loved it enough to give himself for it And father
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I ask that in any way where we have been tempted to decentralize the church that you would
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Through your word as we meditate on it this week And we think on this that you would help us to gain your perspective on the church
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Father correct the lenses through which we view this wonderful thing that you've created called the church and Fathers we come before your table this meal that we enjoy together as a church
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To pray that it would minister all that you have designed it to minister to us We ask you in Jesus name and for his sake.