1 Timothy 3:14-4:5 Cutting Through the Confusion

We are listening to the podcast of Recast Church in Matawan, Michigan. This week, Pastor Don Filcik preaches from his series, Blueprints for a Healthy Church, following the plan from Quaker First Timothy.

Let's listen in.

Well, good morning everybody and welcome to Recast Church. As Dave said, I'm Don Filcik. I'm the lead pastor here, and I'm really glad that all of you are here. Otherwise, I'd be talking to an empty room, which would be weird.

But I'm also glad that you're here because I love you as this church. So, welcome to all of you and a special welcome to those of you that maybe are just checking things out. And by checking things out, I mean maybe one, two, three weeks you've been here, maybe just a handful.

If you have not yet filled out a connection card, then that would be your next step. And you can fill that out. You received it when you walked in. You can turn it in at the welcome table out there. And if you fill that out, give it to them.

They will give you a free t-shirt there as just a way of saying thanks for sharing your information. We don't spam your inbox, but we will send you an email every week if you're willing to share your email address with us.

And then also you received an offering envelope when you walked in just to inform you about how we don't pass an offering plate here. If you choose to give, that's between you and God. But there's a slot out in that same table out in the entryway there, and you can put any gifts in that, use that envelope if you want.

You can recycle that envelope rather than letting it just sit on the floorboard of your car. And then until eventually you collect them up and throw them in the trash, you can recycle it if you're not going to use that this morning.

There's a basket out there to recycle those too. And then lastly, we have an app that we use here. It's kind of a newer thing for us. But the app is the primary way of communication. And so you can download that and use that.

And that's the way you get information. You can register for different things and all of that through the app. We ask for you to do that. If this is your church, then jump on that and check it out. Familiarize yourself with it.

And then today's our annual picnic at the park, as Dave mentioned. All are welcome, and we're going to find our way down to the Madawan Village Park, right on Front Street. Go out to the road, turn left about a half a mile on the right-hand side.

You probably won't miss it, especially as you get out of here. We'll all be down there after the service. And then lastly, Dan DeVries has set a table up out in the lobby. Dan has been on our board here in the past.

His family's been involved here. His daughter's going to be playing keys this morning. And their family's been really involved. And he is now raising support for a new ministry. He is, well, a new ministry that's an old ministry, right, Dan?

But he's raising funds to be the director of Sports Ambassadors. It's an organization that leads groups from the United States over to international contexts in order to play sports and bring the gospel into those contexts.

And so, an exciting ministry. He would love to talk with you about that. And he's going to be at the picnic, so he can carry those conversations on over there as well afterwards. But during connection time, be sure to check that out if that's something that interests you and you'd like to talk with him more about his ministry.

The Church as the Household, Assembly, and Pillar of the Truth

So this morning, we're going to be looking at a text that stretches over two chapters of the Bible. We need a reminder that the chapter divisions are not original. So a guy in the Middle Ages set out to divide the Bible into easy chunks.

So he divided it into verses and chapters. And he did okay. How many of you think that's probably a pretty big undertaking? Read the whole Bible, try to divide it up. He did fairly well. But I think there's going to be value in taking the end of chapter 3 of 1 Timothy together with the beginning of chapter 4.

The end of chapter 3 emphasizes the truth that the church needs to hold high. The real centrality of our faith is found at the end of chapter 3. And that's a truth that we need to keep coming back to.

And then chapter 4 gives us an example of the type of falsehood that easily seeks to creep in if we don't keep that truth central. And so I'm convinced that most, all of us at times in our lives, have heard spiritual teachings that made our heads spin, that were confusing to us.

As humans, we love novelty, we love newness, we love kind of to make things complicated. We like to complexificate things, if I can coin a complex word. So we like to make things confusing. And we like kind of the nuance of things.

So we'll kind of dig in in conspiracies and this and that and Bible codes and end times and all of that kind of stuff that's like, well, what do I really need to know? What do I really need to believe?

And this is a text that brings us back to that core. It really is the core text of the book of 1 Timothy. And the text that we're looking at this morning exists to express the heart of our faith in simplicity and elegance.

A portion of the text is even a hymn, an ancient hymn, and the structure and the way that it's written identifies that it's got poetic structure to it. It's an elegant word and it is all about Jesus. And I commend this passage to you as a place to come back for anchoring and centering.

When things in your life spiritually get complicated and you begin to hear someone on the radio or you begin to read a book and it's like, this is confusing stuff. This is hard for me to wrap my mind around.

I feel like I'm kind of out at the margins of my ability to understand these spiritual things that I'm being taught. When you begin to question what you know about God, when you encounter strange teachings that seem to muddy the water for you and your understanding.

I thought this was a simple faith and it begins to look like a complicated faith. I encourage you to come back to the text that we're going to be looking at together this morning. Let this glorious passage about Jesus Christ be an anchor for your soul.

Make sure that you remain in orbit around these central truths of Jesus Christ. And obviously there's a lot to grasp in the Christian faith. Isn't there? There's a lot to God's Word. There's a lot for us to understand.

But these central things are core. This passage, if trusted, if believed, simplifies so much for us. And so let's open our Bibles or our devices to 1 Timothy 3, verse 14. And we're going to go over to chapter 4, verse 5.

So 1 Timothy 3, 14 through 4, verse 5. And this is God's holy and precious Word. So I'll give you a second to navigate over there and then we'll read it together. I'd love for you to have the Bible open in front of you, whether that's on a device or a paper copy of it, your own copy of it.

But then you can see that the things that I'm saying are coming from God's holy Word. So 1 Timothy 3, starting in verse 14. The apostle Paul, writing to Timothy, says this, I hope to come to you soon.

But I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. But indeed, we confess, a great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness.

He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, and taken up in glory. Now the Spirit expressly says that, in later times, some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.

For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. Let's pray. Father, I thank you so much for the opportunity that we have to dig into your word this morning.

I thank you for a word that centers us on Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, the one who simplifies and cuts through all of the confusion and complexity, the one who came to rescue us. So, Father, I pray that from a place of that simple and glorious truth that he was manifested in the flesh and vindicated by the Spirit and all of these rich and deep truths that we see in this even short text this morning, that you would grab a hold of our hearts and help us to be elated together, joyful together as your household, Father.

So much more than an audience, so much more than just a gathering under one roof this morning. We are the people who uphold the truth. We are your family. We are united in Jesus Christ. And I pray that where we don't love him as we ought, that even now in our singing, that you would move us emotionally as well as in our minds, that we would worship you in spirit and in truth.

I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. And yeah, you can go ahead and be seated and get comfortable. If you would reopen your Bible or your device to 1 Timothy 3, 14 through the first five verses of chapter four, that would be great.

And if at any time during the message, if you need to get up and get more coffee, juice or donuts, you can take advantage of those. If you don't know where the restrooms are, they're out the double doors down the hallway on the left hand side, if you need those at all during the time that we have together.

And our goal is to focus the remainder of our time as much as possible on the written word of God, which is his self-disclosure to us. It is him telling us what he desires for us to know. And so Paul is written here in this letter, 1 Timothy.

We're looking at a letter from Paul to his understudy, Timothy. And he encouraged Timothy to stay in the city of Ephesus. You see, the church there was planted by Paul. He loved them. And then he had been moved on from that place in Ephesus, and the church got blown up.

It got blown up by false teachers. It's completely in shambles by the time that Paul was writing 1 Timothy. It's probably hard for us to imagine a church going through a split, or going through false teaching, or going through kind of frustrating times.

But apparently it happens, okay? And I'm saying that facetiously because I know some of you in this room have gone through some pretty dark times regarding church difficulties and problems that you've had to face.

But Paul up to this point in the letter has given Timothy instructions on how to reset the church. What are the fundamental things, and how should it be functioning? And what kind of values should they be holding, and how should they be moving forward?

But now, in our text, he takes a breather, and then just takes a pause and says, Hold on just a second, let's get back to the foundation. Let's lay out the deeper purpose of this letter. It is, here's the point, it is never sufficient for a church to merely do the right things.

Well, the first couple of chapters have really been focused on doing the right things. But it is never enough for us to just do the right stuff. It is most important to do the right things for the right cause, or the right reason.

Did you hear that? It is most important to do the right things for the right reason. You see, here's the point, church. Nobody is going to be saved by doing the right things. Nobody's getting to heaven on the basis of doing the right things.

But all will be saved or set straight, and all will be made right for the one who does the right things, for the right person, or for the right reason. The reason being, Jesus Christ, and his great life, his great love, and his great sacrifice, that has grabbed our hearts in such a way that we are now loved, and our feet are put on a firm foundation, by which we then go out and act in a certain way, loving him and honoring him, not just doing good things.

That is not the point. And that's the reason to behave well in the church. Jesus Christ is the reason to behave well in the church. And that really is the only motivation that's going to sustain a church full of sinners like us.

The only thing that's going to sustain us, the only thing that's going to hold us together, the only hope that we have to continue on in love for one another, is that our foundation is placed firmly and squarely on the shoulders of Jesus Christ, who we have in common.

So Paul has hopes of visiting Timothy in Ephesus, and he says that right here at the start of our text here in verse 14. He hopes to visit him. He's likely in Corinth at the time of this, and so he's across the Aegean Sea.

They're separated by a lot of water. And he writes him, and he says, I'm writing you because what I have to say is urgent enough, and I fear that I'm going to be delayed. Now, you can imagine that travel and air travel today, do you get delayed sometimes?

Most of the time. But imagine what it would have been like back then. And so he has really good cause to believe. It's going to take him a while to get back to Ephesus and connect with Timothy face to face.

And he says, this is so urgent, I had to send a letter with a courier because I don't feel like, it's so pressing and so important that it can't wait. And there's a chance that I'm not going to make it there in time.

And I want this to be solved. So in verse 15, he summarizes what he has said so far. He has written so that Timothy is clear on the way that a church ought to behave. He says, that's what I've said to you so far.

And hear me carefully, church. Or rather, hear Paul carefully, or rather hear God carefully through the Apostle Paul. There is a right and a wrong way that a church ought to behave. Ought is a right and wrong kind of word, is it not?

You ought to do it this way. This is the right way to do it. Followers of Christ have a pattern set for them in scripture for how they are to work together in the church. These are patterns set down for us.

Are we a church? If we're a church, then these patterns are set down for, this is how a person, generic, ought to behave in the household of God, says Paul. Are we a household of God? That these are things that we have to take on.

And that's the way that all of Paul, I mean Paul's letters are very clear that these are ought to things in the church. And the three titles that he gives to the church at the end of verse 15 may very well correct some of our thoughts about what we are here in this gathering this morning.

Are you an audience? Are you merely a group of individuals who decided to come under the same roof into the same building this morning? Is that all that we are? Or is there a deeper mystery to what we are in this gathering, church?

It says in the text, in verse 15, we are the household of God. Meaning that we're family. Paul is not saying this merely to add flavor and kind of like, just kind of flowery language in the text. No, everything that he's putting down, he's putting down with purpose, with intention.

And he's identifying what a church actually is to be. So that we and his original readers are reminded of what God brings us into when he saves us. What does he desire for us to connect with? We are not an audience.

We are brothers and sisters in the household of God. This implies a bunch of things. You can imagine like, what does it mean to be family? It implies commitment. It implies love for one another. This implies a deeper connection than merely occupying the same building every Sunday morning.

Think about all that it implies if we are indeed the household of God. The love, the care, the compassion. The mourning with those who are mourning. And celebrating with those who are celebrating. And growing in faith together.

Growing in community together. Growing in service together. And further, he goes on to say, yes, we are the household of God. But we are also, he calls the gathering, the assembly of the living God. Now, assembly is a redundant word when you are defining church.

Because the word church means assembly. So, the church is the assembly. But what do we assemble for? What do we assemble under? And the emphasis in this designation is the living God. The God who is working among his people.

We don't worship a statue that doesn't go anywhere. That doesn't do anything. That we have to pick it up if it falls over. We worship a living and active God who is on the move. The one that works among us.

This is an important reminder as we consider why we are called to be in a local community of believers. We are gathered together by his sovereign design. We receive in this gathering what we cannot receive in front of a screen sitting in our own living rooms.

We receive the opportunity to grow together in community and service. And lastly, the church is, so it's the household of God. It's the assembly, the gathering together of those who acknowledge the living God.

And then lastly, the church is defined as something that's kind of unique and different. The church is a pillar and a buttress of the truth. The church is the truth place is the way that you ought to think of it.

In a world devoid of the truth, the church is necessary. We are needed more today than ever. We are the supporters of the truth. A pillar, of course, you know, holds something up. And a buttress, maybe you don't really know what that is from architecture.

But the flying buttresses were really impressive in the Middle Ages. Where there was basically pillars on the outside of a building that span to basically support that structure from the outside. Keeping the walls from falling outward.

And so the buttress was a support in architecture, particularly of cathedrals in the Middle Ages. The church holds up and supports what, does the text say?

The truth.

We support the truth. And our core value of truth, which by the way, Recast, I think most of you know, is an acronym for our core values. Replication, community, authenticity, simplicity, and truth. And that truth is not last because it's least.

It's last because it ties everything all together. It is the fundamental thing that we hold to. Is that the word of God is the truth. We value the truth and we seek to always uphold the truth. Which is found in God's holy word.

So what are we this morning, Recast? What are we when we gather together? What are we when we spread out to our community? And what are we during the week? We're a family. We're an assembly of the one true and living God.

And we are those who lift high the truth. We are those who support the truth. Proclaim the truth. Talk the truth. Believe the truth. Live the truth. We are truth people. And verse 16 is here to make sure that all of the how we ought to behave of the previous couple of chapters is connected squarely to the truth that we believe.

The truth that we are to be upholding. The truth that we are to be supporting. If we are not connected to this truth that we find in verse 16, we, hear me carefully, we cease to become a church. If verse 16 is not believed by us, is not endorsed by us, is not lifted high by us, then we are something other than a church.

We could be a good social club and grow in community. We could be a good deed society and grow in service. We could be a philanthropic society that gives really well to the community or something like that.

But we are not a church without the central and fundamental capital T truth that we see in verse 16. In this truth found in verse 16, we find the church's purpose. The thing we must have in mind when we think let's get back to what matters most, verse 16.

The thing that cuts through all of the messes and all of the heartaches and all the difficulties and all the pains that you may have ever experienced at the hands of the church. Or at the hands of religious people.

Or at the hands of those who said that they are followers of Christ. Cutting through all of that. When we hear about charges of hypocrisy. Anybody ever heard that the church is just full of hypocrites?

Good answer to that. But hey, have you considered Jesus Christ? When you hear a new secret Bible code that reveals that the end is going to be in May of 2022. But hey, how about Jesus? Or when you hear about that new Christian fad about trying to figure out your guardian angel's name so that you can get him under your control and get better access to God.

Or whatever strange doctrines or strange teachings that you might hear out there.

What about Jesus?

What about the one who ascended? And sits at the right hand of the almighty on high for us. What about him? To clarify the start of verse 16 and to really cut to the chase. You look at verse 16 there for just a second.

Paul is saying this. I'm going to paraphrase it while you're looking at it in your translation. Unquestionably great. That's the word. Indeed is kind of unquestionable. Unquestionably great is the revelation.

It says mystery. Mystery is a word that means revelation here. Unquestionably great is the revelation of the way that God makes us into good worshipers. Unquestionably great is the way that God changes a life.

Unquestionably great. Well in the text, mystery means the revelation of something that was previously hidden. Godliness means good worship. It literally is the prefix good attached to the word worship.

Godliness and good worship. Not just singing songs. When you hear the word worship, do not think songs. Think a life lived for the worth of God. Identifying his worth in all that we say and do. And great indeed means unquestionably great.

Paul here is acknowledging that the interface between what we believe and what we do is key. And it is awesome, great, and amazing to see how he works to change rebels against him. And to those who worship him well with our lives.

And I don't think, the apostle Paul, I'm surprised that he didn't go into his own testimony here. It's so close to that that I mean we're meant to think that right. Paul, the apostle, who was in direct opposition to God.

The furthest you could get from good worship. He was in opposition to Jesus Christ. You know that whole on the road to Damascus to arrest him some Christians. Put him in jail. Maybe even have him put to death.

Bright light. The voice of Christ meets him.

He commissions him.

Saves him. And says you're going to go to the Gentiles. Paul's life radically changed. Converted from a direction against God to completely the opposite direction. How many of you would just say that.

In Paul's life his jaw was probably still on the ground. From that kind of a radical transformation. When he says unquestionably great. He was thinking about the way that God had transformed him.

The way that God had changed him.

Unquestionably great the way that God can take somebody who's a rebel against him. And turn them into a good worshiper for the name of Jesus Christ. Paul was an example of this. And this is the truth that changes us.

He says here's the truth that produces that unquestionably great revelation. Bringing a person to good worship. He says this first. Jesus he was manifested in the flesh. Well this is talking obviously about the incarnation.

Think Christmas. But think deeper than most of us go during Christmas. He loved us enough to come dwell among us. To live here in this mess with us. Jesus manifested in the flesh. The God man come among us to rescue and redeem us.

One who could put their hand both on God and on humanity. He was manifested in the flesh. Second he was vindicated by the spirit. That might be a little bit more confusing to us. When did that happen?

What does that look like? At his baptism the spirit was there validating and vindicating him in his ministry. Launching him out. At his resurrection the spirit was there vindicating him. The tomb is empty.

And in his miracles throughout his life the spirit was there vindicating and endorsing him. Saying see this is the one. Jesus was vindicated by the spirit. Manifested in the flesh. He was seen by angels.

Well when?

When?

Do they see everything? Are they finite beings too? They're not in all places at once. When was Jesus seen by angels? And what's the significance of that? Well at his birth who made the announcement? The angels singing to the shepherds.

At his resurrection who made the announcement that the tomb was empty? To the ladies who came there to anoint his body that morning? Angels. At his ascension who told the disciples quit gawking at the sky and get back into Jerusalem?

Who was there to tell them that? Angels. All of the angelic servants of God beheld the son of God in glory. He has not merely received the acclaim of humanity but he has received the acclaim of heavenly beings as well.

He's manifested in the flesh. Vindicated by the spirit. Seen by the angels. And he was and still is proclaimed among the nations. This speaks of the universal mission of Jesus Christ. He was not just come for the Jews only.

Not just merely a messenger to the twelve disciples. But he gave us this mission to carry the message of his salvation to other nations as well. And praise God that that's coupled with the next statement.

He is indeed proclaimed among the nations. But he has been believed on in the world.

Amen?

Believed on in the world. It is not just that he has been proclaimed but he has also been believed.

He has been trusted.

People from Africa and Asia and Australia and Europe and the Americas believe on Jesus Christ. Despite all the cultural differences and the language differences. And all of the upbringing differences.

Believed on in the world.

Glory, glory, glory. This one is unique. This one is different. Believed on all around the world in diverse cultures. And lastly, he was taken up in glory. And this is clearly about his ascension. But it's also a reminder of where he is now.

Where is your lord? Where is your king now? He sits at the right hand of the eternal father. Talking to God for us until the time of his return. That's exciting to me. In the dark times of my life, that's something you can hold on to.

In the tough diagnoses. In the difficult family things that you go through. In the pain and the suffering and wayward children. And all of the pain and heartache of trying to reconcile with your parents.

Or whatever it might be. And I just know that there's just a whole host of difficulties that we face as humans. From illness to broken and sick relationships. Real infirmity. Or sin that we've caused on ourselves.

I mean sometimes we're our own worst enemy. You know what I'm talking about? Some of you are here just feeling guilty for being in church with the things that you did this last week. I know that that's true.

I know that that's true of us. I know what we're made of. I'm made of the same stuff. This one sits and pleads on behalf of his people. To his father. Direct access.

For you.

And for me.

There is so much of a push. I think in our culture today towards complexity and confusion. Do you feel it? I wouldn't be surprised if everybody in this room isn't confused about something that you read this week.

Or else you're not reading. Satan has his strategies. I think in every generation, in every era, he tweaks it a little bit. He figures out what works and then moves the dial a little bit. And I don't doubt for a second that one of his greatest strategies right now is just inundating us with information that's confusing and complex.

I think it's a major strategy of Satan. But there is a simple way to cut through all of that confusion. There are a lot of intricacies to the Bible. Hear me carefully. And they are worth exploring. We can make the study of eschatology, which is the study of end times.

The study of soteriology, how God saves us. The study of hamartiology, the study of sin. Or bibliology, the study of inspiration. And there's all of these ologies surrounding Christian theology. And all of those are worth our time.

But when things get too complicated. And they get complex. And our minds begin to melt down. We should feel free to shelter in texts like this one.

Take a break.

And take a pause. And come back to the center. There are so many systems of thought. And then further there's all the false teachings. So you can get inundated in good stuff.

Do you know what I'm talking about?

You can get overwhelmed in the good stuff. The truth can be overwhelming to our system at times. But then there's all the false teachings. And all the narrative that we see on the internet. And there's all kinds of religious conspiracies, political conspiracies.

Jesus Christ at the Center of All Truth

All kinds of things that we can grab a hold of that are a reward for your attention. Starting as soon as we step out of here. And all of it must come back to the Christ. Who was manifested in the flesh.

Vindicated by the spirit. Seen by the angels. Proclaimed among the nations. Believed on in the nation, in the world. And taken up in glory. And all of it swirling around the gravity of one. All of our lives intended to swirl and be captured in the gravity revolving around the one.

What is his name? That was... Do you know his name? What is his name? Alright, that's a good Sunday school class right there. The kids would have answered better than that in the start. I'm confident of it.

Let's try that one more time. What's his name? His name is Jesus. He is the center of it. And I would suggest to you that Satan's strategy would love for you to have a more eccentric orbit.

Do you get what I mean by that?

He would love for you to get an orbit that was far outside of the reach. Still revolving around Jesus. But getting further and further to the point where it's easier and easier. And eventually, that gravity breaks.

And you just sling off into space. Do you get what I'm saying? So keep coming back to the center. And that's one of the reasons I even just say... Don't read your Bible every day because Pastor Don told you to.

Read the Bible because you need Christ. Read the Bible because you need to come back to the center of what it's all about. Day in and day out. It is not enough for me to hear or to preach a message once a week.

My orbit gets off. It gets wider and wider.

Is that making sense?

Is that metaphor connecting with you? I need constant recorrections to revolve closely around my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Take those opportunities that you have. Feed yourself with the Word throughout the week.

I fear the reality, by the way, when we talk about Jesus being manifested in the flesh. Vindicated by the Spirit. Seen by the angels. Proclaimed among the nations. Believed on in the world. Taken up in glory.

I fear the reality that I can read those words without being moved. I fear that for you too. That this unquestionably great confession of our Lord and Savior can be met with academic precision and description.

But no moving hearts.

What does it say of us? That these truths do not cause us to burst out in gladness like our favorite football team scoring a touchdown. I think I've joked with you guys before, but I've got a scar on one of my knuckles from a Michigan touchdown.

Jumped up and hit the ceiling and it was a rough ceiling and it scraped the knuckle and it's still a scar there to this day.

Why?

Super excited that Michigan scored. When's the last time we had that kind of enthusiasm for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ? For the things that he has done to bring us into his family. And listen, I recognize that it's Don up front making you feel guilty or something like that.

And that's not my heart. That's not my goal. It's just really what's going on in our hearts. And this is a great corrective force. It's a great time for us to think these things through. Maybe we've become a little too familiar with the holy.

Maybe we've forgotten to take our shoes off and we don't even realize we're standing on holy ground. Maybe we forget that we are the caretakers of the glorious truth of the only one given by which mankind can be saved.

Or is it just that we become hard to please? Or the flip side of that, maybe really the heart is that we're too easily pleased. Got an iPhone 11. That's all I need. Or whatever it is for you, right? What is it that really grabs your attention?

What is it that really gets you going? Too easily pleased? Maybe that's the issue. Too easily impressed with the things of this world that Christ fades into the background. In light of the things that capture our attention and our hearts most.