Behavior in His House

Introduction to the Series: Living Together in the Father's House

0:02 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, October 1st, 2000, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:13 Now may I encourage you to turn with me in your Bibles to Paul's first letter to his spiritual son and comrade in gospel labors called Timothy. First, Timothy, and I shall read a brief portion of chapter 3, namely verses 14 and 15.

0:40 First Timothy 3, 14. These things write I unto you, hoping to come unto you shortly. But if I tarry long, that you may know how men, or how you, Timothy, ought to behave yourself or men behave themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Several years ago, a book was written by Wayne Mack and David Swavely, and it was published by PNR with this title,

1:25 Life in the Father's House, subtitle, A Member's Guide to the Local Church. And taking my clue from that title, I began to read it. I began this morning a series of studies entitled, Living Together in the Father's House. The title of the book is Life in the Father's House.

1:48 The title of our series of sermons is Living Together in the Father's House. And by way of introduction to this series, let me first of all ask and answer two basic questions, then very briefly make an observation, give an exhortation, submit a recommendation, and all that as introduction. And I hope to get through that in less than ten minutes. So you may look at your watch and see how well I do.

Why This Subject Now? Constitutional Mandate and Divine Providence

2:16 Question number one, why is this particular subject being addressed at this time? And I answer that in our church constitution, under the section of conduct required of members, item number two is named this way, commitment to our corporate standards. It is the responsibility of every member to contribute to the maintenance of the doctrinal purity and unity of the congregation. And appropriate texts are cited.

2:48 In pursuit of these goals, all regular and temporary members of the church are strongly urged to read the confession and constitution of the church at least once every year, in order to maintain sensitivity to our commonly held standards, both of doctrine and doctrine.

3:07 doctrine and of practice. In addition, and here's the answer to the first question, in addition, the elders shall be responsible every five years, beginning five years from the adoption of this Constitution, to plan the public ministries of the Word, so that no fewer than fifteen messages in the Lord's Day morning services will be given to the proclamation of those biblical doctrines central to our confession,

3:36 and no fewer than fifteen concurrent adult classes be given to teaching the major biblical principles embodied in this Constitution. Well, in the providence of God, having completed the verse-by-verse expositions of 1 Peter, and having had our men's conference, do you know what day this Constitution was adopted in its present form? October the 1st, in the year of our Lord, 1990.

4:07 Now, if we have a legalist among us who wants to press the letter of the law, we are spot-on, as my English friends would say. For today is October the 1st, in the year of our Lord, 2000, and the Constitution says the elders shall be responsible every five years, beginning from five years of the adoption of this Constitution. And in a more serious vein, in the providence of God, those who attend the conference will be responsible every five years, beginning from five years of the adoption of this Constitution. And the adult class know that we began this morning, chapter 26, in our confession, entitled, Of the Church.

4:47 And with the consent of the congregation given on August the 13th of this year, instead of the expositions of the biblical truths contained in the confession being given here in the morning worship, and an exposition of the biblical truths contained in our Constitution being given in the adult class, we've reversed it in the light of our language. and ongoing studies in the confession of faith in the adult class. So question number one, why take up this subject, living together in the Father's house? I answer, because as an elder of this church, I am subject to our corporately agreed standards of conducting our life together,

5:27 as are my fellow elders, and in God's providence, we find ourselves at a good point in the ongoing ministries to take up this subject, as well as we have a good conscience that we've respected the directives of the Constitution. Question number two is, how will the subject be addressed? And the answer is given to us in our Constitution, and I intend, even as Pastor Lamar does in the adult class, to stick to this perspective. We are directed as elders to give these services to expounding or proclaiming the gospel of the Father, and to give these services to the

How the Subject Will Be Addressed: Preaching the Word, Not the Constitution

6:04 biblical doctrines central to and contained in our confession and Constitution. I will be deeply grieved if I overhear some of you talking to a visitor, and they say, what's going on? What's Pastor Martin preaching these days in the morning services, now that he's done First Peter? Oh, he's preaching our Constitution. If you want to give me a few more gray hairs ahead of my time,

6:31 or lose a few more on my temples, let me hear you say that. Rather, what you should say is, we are considering those biblical truths which find a summation and an articulation in some structure in our Constitution. I'm not called to preach the Trinity Church Constitution. The Scripture says, preach the Word. So shall my Word be that goes

6:55 out of my mouth. And so I will, with God's help in this hour, as Pastor Lamar has been doing in the previous hour, be expounding and proclaiming the gospel of the Father, and to give these services to all who attend the adult class and the expositions over the next several months. Now, further, by way of introduction, let me note an observation. The observation is this. It will be evident to all who attend

Observation: The Church's High Profile and Avoiding Distorted Views

7:16 the adult class and the expositions over the next several months that the doctrine of the Church is going to be given a more than ordinary high profile. In the providence of God, that's what is set before us. Now, it would be very grievous. If some who just began to attend in the last few weeks, or this morning, would, after several weeks, go out and say, all they do is talk about the Church. You get a solid 55 minutes of teaching on the Church in the adult class, and then you

7:51 come, and the focal point of the worship in the ministry of the Word, it's more about the Church. That's all they talk about. My friend, please, please, please, don't make such an unrighteous judgment of us. I look back through our tape catalog, and I see that there is a lot of talk about the Church. I look back through our tape catalog, and I

8:05 over the course of our 38 years here, I have preached several series on the doctrine of the Church, but it has been many years since any of those more extensive series has been preached, whether in the Manifesto, or in the Here We Stand series, or a series God continues to use, preached way back in the first year of our existence as Trinity Church in 1967, those 19 messages on the local church. I've been embarrassed to even listen to them for five years. I've been I've been embarrassed to even listen to them for five years. I've been embarrassed to even listen to them for five years. I

8:35 fear there'd be so much I'd want to correct that I'd want to pull them out of the tape ministry, not that there's any heresy in them, but how little we knew by experience of the things we were attempting to preach. So, with that observation, I trust that no one visiting among us will receive a distorted view of what we feed upon as the people of God. And for you who are members, I cannot help but believe that if God in His providence, in these very ordinary ways of your elders, sensitivity to the directives of their constitution, of our constitution, and the providence of God that has brought us to the end of our

9:13 expositions of 1 Peter, and finds us for a number of months already in our confession, you remember what the risen Christ said to all seven churches of Asia Minor, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. And surely if we believe God guides us without any direct revelation, but in the ordinary course of providence, the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord. That's biblical. And we believe God has ordered our steps and brought us to this place. If ever the prayer should be a fervent prayer in the heart of every member of this assembly, O Lord, help me to

9:55 understand more clearly than I ever have what it means to be part of a church subject to the Word. Teach me my privileges, underscore my duties, display Your grace that is available to us in Christ, that we might, in the truest sense of the word, be God-honoring churchmen and churchwomen. So that's my observation. Then my exhortation is, please, and it's only an exhortation, not a commandment and a mandate, blow the dust off your constitution in the coming days, and start right in the beginning and read through so that when references are made to some of the

Exhortation and Recommendation: Engage with the Constitution and Recommended Reading

10:36 major sections, there will be many other sections that deal with the specifics of procedure that will not even be mentioned, but the main things that we'll deal with, our purpose, article number two, the matter of membership, what is required of members, what is expected of members, the discipline of the church, church officers, these major things, I have mapped them out and run it by at least two of my fellow elders to gain their input with respect to what things should be emphasized. I would like to emphasize from the scriptures as they are set out in our constitution, and it would be a great help if the members and friends of the church get their

11:14 constitution and read it portion by portion in the coming days, and to that end, we have a number of them sitting on the table. If you've lost yours, you don't have one, feel free to take it. And then my final word of introduction is a word of recommendation, and that is, if you don't have Wayne Mack and Mr. Swavely's book, Life in the Father's House, I would urge you to read it.

11:36 If you're children a bit older, you may find it would be the kind of thing you'd want to even use in family worship for a time while we're working through the doctrine of the church. There is much of very helpful biblical perspective in that book, and I would certainly recommend it to you. Now, with that lengthy but necessary introduction behind us, we come this morning, and I did stick fairly close to the ten minutes, a little bit over, and we come to consider as foundational to this entire

What God Thinks About Behavior in His House: 1 Timothy 3:14-15

12:05 series, some of the truths contained in 1 Timothy chapter 3, verses 14 and 15. And those of you who attend this ministry, upon this ministry regularly, know that I'm not one for clever sermon titles. Whatever gives a man the ability to come up with clever, catchy sermon titles, I got short-circuited. There was never a connect in the circuit board of my brain. But it's not catchy, but I hope it's helpful, and if I were to give a title to a book, I would do that in the next two or three years.

12:36 to our sermon this morning based on this text, it would be what God thinks about behavior in his house. We're going to be studying living together in God's house. And you may well ask the question, well, what does God think about this matter of living together in his house? What does God think about behavior in his house? And I know of no text in scripture

13:00 that more comprehensively and clearly answers that question than the text before us. I read it again in your hearing. Paul writing says, these things I write unto you, hoping to come unto you shortly. But if I tarry long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Note with me,

Specific Circumstances: Paul's Disappointed Expectation and God's Providence

13:30 Paul, and I'll open up the text under three headings. Heading number one, the specific circumstances which precipitated this letter to Timothy. When and why did Paul write this letter to Timothy? Was he sitting out on a porch somewhere and thinking of his friends and associates and saying, well, you know, I really miss my buddy Timothy. So I think I'll just send

13:56 him a nice friendly letter. No, he tells us in this passage, according to the circumstances which precipitated this letter. Now, I'm sure that many of you realize that seeking to piece together the chronological details and the historical circumstances referred to in the epistles of the New Testament is often a very difficult task and not infrequently it leads to uncertain conclusions. However, it is most likely, notice my words, most likely. I'm not ready to die for this.

14:31 But it is most likely that Paul wrote this letter after being released from his first Roman imprisonment. He is on his way to Asia Minor, where he leaves Timothy at Ephesus. Notice chapter one in verse three, as I exhorted you, Timothy, to tarry at Ephesus when I was going into Macedonia. So he's there in Asia Minor. He's going to pass,

15:01 over into Macedonia on his way where Ephesus was. He leaves Titus in the Isle of Crete while he goes on to Ephesus with Timothy. And then according to chapter one in verse three, he leaves Timothy at Ephesus and goes on to Macedonia. Now, according to verse 14 of our text, Paul had a strong desire to return to Ephesus, but he has no direct revelation from God or from a New Testament prophet.

15:31 That he will be able to return and if so, when. So he says, these things I write, and the disposition of his heart when he writes is that of a sanctified longing and a measure of hopefulness that he will be able to come to Ephesus himself within a relatively short period of time. You could render it, I hope to come unto you shortly. It's an advert, could be rendered shortly.

15:58 This is what I hope. As I pray. As I think, as I plan, it is my hope, my desire, my expectation, but, since I have no certain revelation, notice what he says, but, if I tarry long, in the will of God, I may not realize my sanctified longing, Timothy. I do desire and hope in the will of God to return shortly, but, in case I do not return, these things I'm writing unto you.

16:33 So you get something of the circumstances that precipitated this letter to Timothy. As he thinks of possibly returning, and the things that he would do in cooperation and in spiritual teamwork with Timothy, he now takes pen and parchment, and makes them his all-pervading, alter ego at Ephesus. The things that he would be concerned about in his actual presence, the perspectives, the concerns, the issues that would have marked his ministry, he transfers to Timothy as priority items. These things I write unto you, hoping to come shortly,

17:17 but, if I do not come, I am deeply concerned about behavior in God's house, and so I'm writing this letter. Now, the only word of application I would give under this heading is simply to note that we should be exceedingly thankful for God's providence which disappointed Paul's fond expectation. Where would we be without 1 Timothy? In a similar way, where would we be without the prison epistles?

17:46 Letters Paul wrote when the Roman government thought, we've got our man, or the Jews thought we've used the arm of the Roman, government to silence him, and how the church has been enriched for centuries around the world because of God's disappointing of the apostles' sanctified desires. Well, so much for the specific circumstances that precipitated this letter to Timothy. Now, secondly, note the explicit purpose for the letter. And that becomes very clear if you just put the subordinate clauses in brackets and pick up where Paul...

Explicit Purpose: Apostolic Concern for Behavior in God's House

18:24 Paul says in verse 14, These things I write unto you, hoping to come unto you shortly, but if I tarry long... Now, here's the purpose clause.

18:33 In order that you may know. So let's read it that way. These things I write unto you in order that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God. Paul tells us in spades the explicit purpose for his letter.

18:54 He says, I'm writing these things to you, Timothy, with respect to the oughtness of behavior in God's house. And there is a problem in the translation and in the precise understanding is Paul saying, These things I write unto you, Timothy, that you, Timothy, may know how men or how behavior should be manifested in the house of God. in the house of God. in the house of God.

19:24 in the house of God. in the house of God. in the house of God. in the house of God.

19:24 in the house of God. in the house of God. And there are different translations. And I'm not going to go into the debate and the discussion.

19:30 It would not be unto edification because on this point there is no question. The deep passion of Paul's heart had to do with behavior, manner of living in God's house. That's the thing that is central. That's the thing that is indisputable.

19:48 And whether he's writing in order to direct Timothy as Timothy regulates behavior or whether he's writing in order to direct Timothy or whether he's writing to Timothy that Timothy might be his mouthpiece to the church and that the church might know its behavior immediately or immediately is irrelevant. The great passion of his heart is, I write, that behavior in God's house may be regulated by apostolic directive. Now get the picture. The church at Ephesus had been established by the apostle Paul himself.

20:23 He had labored there, longer than in any other city in all of his apostolic missionary labors. He says in Acts 20 when he meets with the elders that for the space of three years I cease not to warn you day and night with tears. Labored for over three years. It already has elders.

20:43 He can call them to himself as we read in Acts chapter 20. It is the church from which, according to Acts 19, the word of God has sounded, sounded out in all of that area of Asia Minor. It is a thriving church. It is an established church.

21:03 It is a church where the Spirit of God has worked and fashioned men with gifts and graces for leadership and their leadership has been recognized. And there are yet many parts of the Roman Empire that have not heard the gospel. There is much that Timothy could do in the labor of an evangelist in church planter. Yet, yet Paul separates himself from his dearly beloved companion.

21:31 His most treasured companion in gospel ministry was Timothy. He tells us that in Philippians chapter 2. He said, I have no man like-minded when he speaks to Timothy. They all seek their own, not the things of Christ Jesus.

21:47 Why would he separate himself and leave his precious companion in labor who must have met so many of the deepest needs of the heart of this servant of God in his moments of loneliness and disappointment when others had turned away and turned against him? Why would he leave him in a church already established, already duly constituted with great evangelistic outreach, with recognized office bearers? Surely it's time to get on! No.

22:21 He says, I've left you there at Ephesus. And I'm sending you this letter now in order to highlight the very things that would be the passion of my life and ministry were I to come back to Ephesus in the will of God. And it has to do with behavior in God's house. Now, why do I emphasize this?

22:45 And this is application. Well, I do this because there are those who would say any deep concern for behavior in God's house beyond the broadest strokes of biblical truth is evidence of a small mind and of a narrow heart.

23:07 Would anyone say that the Apostle Paul had a small mind and a narrow heart? No. But this is his concern. Furthermore, there are others who would say, why be concerned about the meticulous details of behavior in God's house?

23:25 Preach Christ! It's very interesting. Here, here's the man who said, my great passion is to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches.

23:39 And yet here he is telling his spiritual son, I'm sending you a letter in order that you might know how men ought to behave themselves in God's house. He had already written in this epistle about the maintenance of the pure doctrine in God's house, about the centrality of prayer in God's house, about the relative roles of men and women in God's house, about the recognition of qualified men for elder and deacon in God's house. And then he's going to go on to talk further about how the people of God should relate in God's house to the widows and to their leaders meticulous details about behavior in God's house. Does this mean he had been backslidden

24:23 and suddenly had no passionate love for Christ and desired that Christ would be preached? Of course not. What it means is he understood well what we, by God's grace, need to understand. That to try to separate love for Christ and the passion for Christ from the concern about behavior in his house is to separate what God has joined.

24:48 And we must not do it. It was not separated in the heart of the apostle. It must not be separated in our hearts. Well, we've looked briefly at the specific circumstances that precipitated the letter.

Fundamental Reasons: The Glorious Identity of the Church as God's House

25:00 Verse 14. The explicit purpose of the letter. Now, thirdly, and this will form the bulk of the exposition, the fundamental reasons for this concern. The fundamental reasons for this concern.

25:17 We may well ask the question, with the church already established in possession of a wonderful letter, and if it were not directed explicitly to Ephesus, it was to the churches in that area. They had that marvelous epistle. Opening up the wonders of God's grace in the one new humanity in Christ in which the middle wall of partition is broken down. Rich passages on the church's body, the church's pride.

25:44 Practical directives to husbands and wives and servants and children with all of their activity pouring his life into behavior in such a church. Well, the answer to this and similar questions is found in two strands of reality that are before us in the text. And they are these. If you were to ask Paul, Paul, why do you have this passionate concern for behavior in the church?

26:12 Why do you have this focused desire with respect to how the people of God conduct themselves in the house of God? And he would say two basic reasons. It's because of the glorious identity of the church. And secondly, it is because of the strategic function of the church.

26:32 And it's the identity of the church. The identity in its glory and the function in its strategic place that Paul focuses upon in the remainder of the text. Look at it. These things I write unto you, hoping to come unto you shortly.

26:46 But if I tarry long that you may know how men ought to behave themselves. Now here's the identity of the church and it is glorious. In the house of God, and this is, for you exegetes, effexegetical. In other words, it is flowering out and amplifying what it means to be house of God which is the church of the living God.

27:10 That's the glorious identity of the church. House of God, assembly of the living God, and here is its strategic function, the pillar and the ground of the church. Now let's park on those words. If you and I are to appreciate the apostles' burden, if we are to come with a measure of holy enthusiasm to the church, then we are to come to the next several months of exposition on living together in the Father's house.

27:40 We must share something of the apostles' understanding of both the glorious identity of the church and the strategic function of the church and in this context he is not speaking of the church universal, but he's speaking of the church's local and specific that gather for prayer, that have elders, and that have deacons. And while we hold tenaciously to what was taught this morning, there are passages which have no meaning if we deny the existence of the church universal. We must not push off into some nebulous universal church concept matters that are to be embraced

28:24 in the responsible life of the church, local and specific. All right, then, what is the glorious identity of the church? Two things. It is the house of God, or God's house.

28:38 Now, the ordinary Greek word, and there are two for house, oikia and oikos, and this word oikos can mean either one's immediate family, and we call that our household, or it can mean the place where the family resides. I'm going to go home after the morning service to my house. That is the place where I dwell. Now, here in this immediate context, this is the word Paul has used previously.

29:10 Notice verse 4. With regard to the requirements for an elder, one that rules well his own house. Now, what's that referred to? His domicile, the place of his dwelling, or the members of his immediate family?

29:24 Well, obviously, it's the members of his immediate family ruling well his own house. That doesn't mean he's ruling well the brick and the mortar and the vinyl siding and the sheetrock and the insulation. and the wiring. No, he's ruling his household.

29:38 Furthermore, in verse 5, if a man knows not how to rule his own, here's our word again, house, that is, his household. And likewise, up in verse 12, let deacons be husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses, their own households well. Now, some say, since in the immediate context, three times the word oikos appears, and in each case it refers to household, then this ought to be understood and in some cases of the newer translations, that's the translation given. That if I tarry long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in the household of God.

30:15 My friends, that's not translation, that's interpretation. The word is house. It can mean one's domicile, one's dwelling place, or one's immediate family. And I am persuaded that the passage is used not primarily drawing its significance from the immediate and obvious sense in these other things, the three passages in 1 Timothy 3, but the term house of God has tap roots that go deeply and extensively into the whole Old Testament.

30:47 When God draws near in a special manifestation of His presence, that becomes God's, if only temporary, dwelling, God's house. The term is found there in Genesis. And I want you to turn with me because I want to persuade your judgment of the significance that I am attaching to the word in this context. Genesis 28 in verse 17.

31:13 You remember Jacob is fleeing from his brother Esau and he heads out, verse 10 of Genesis 28, from Beersheba and goes toward Haran. And he lies down to sleep and while he is sleeping he has a dream, verse 13, and behold the Lord stood above it, this latter, and said, I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham, the God of Isaac. And then he gives him the covenant promise with respect to his seed and pledges his abiding presence. Now verse 16.

31:48 And Jacob awaked out of his sleep and said, surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not. And he was afraid and said, how dreadful is this place. This is none other than the house of God. And this is the gate of heaven.

32:09 When God drew near in a special manifestation of himself to the patriarch, he says this place where God draws near in special manifestation of his presence and of his covenant promise, this is God's house. And that theme of God's house is picked up and incorporated into the language concerning the tabernacle, Exodus 23, 19, and again and again in Romans, in reference to the temple. It is called God's house in 1 Kings 5, 1 to 5, 7, 51, 8, 10, 8, 12. There are many passages where this term, house of God, God himself calls the temple.

32:53 My house shall be called a house of prayer. And when people begin to think that they can contain God, then he says, where is the house you will build unto me? And where is the place of my dwelling? When people, begin to think in some wooden, carnal, fleshly way, God rebukes them.

33:10 But it does not negate the fact that this term, house of God, is technical language for the place where God chooses in sovereign grace to make his presence known and to communicate his covenantal grace to men. Hence, when the apostle describes the church, he describes it in language that points to this very relationship with the spirit of God. This is the real reality in all of its new covenant glory. When he's writing to the Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians chapter 3, dealing with the problem of their divisions, he seeks to go after their consciences

33:54 with this motivation in chapter 3 in verse 16, don't you know that you, plural, not individual, you corporately are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God the temple of God him shall God destroy for the temple of God is holy and such are you when the Corinthians gathered together as an assembly of God's people in a church local and specific he says you are a sanctuary of God you are God's house on earth and the Spirit of God dwells in the midst of you such a temple

34:35 is set apart by God and unto God it is holy and such are you Ephesians chapter 2 a similar emphasis where Paul is speaking of God's wonderful work in calling Jew and Gentile into one new man in Christ and into one new and living temple verse 19 of chapter 2 you are no more strangers and sojourners fellow citizens with the Saints and of the household of God being built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom each several building fitly framed

35:15 together grows into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you also are building together for a habitation of God in the spirit built together the language of first Peter we are made living stones and we are constituted by God and God is holy and such are you when the Corinthians gathered together the spiritual temple and we are made the priesthood within the temple to offer up spiritual sacrifices well I don't want to beat the thing in the edges but do you see the little phrase house of God house of God God himself dwelling in a special way

36:00 in the midst of his people no wonder the Apostle is concerned about behavior in the church Anyone here who wants to maintain any sense of dignity and respectability among his fellow men is concerned about behavior in his house. If you've got unruly children, it's an embarrassment to you. If you have an unkempt house that is dirty and untidy, and food is served up in a way that is not healthful and attractive, you're embarrassed when behavior in your house goes to pot. You're embarrassed.

36:41 How much more is God concerned about behavior in his house? Timothy, when you give yourself to a painstaking, conscientious implementation of the things I write, and you're tempted to be weary, and you're tempted to back off, and you're tempted to think, well, maybe it's not so important that I press this aspect or that aspect of apostolic directions. Timothy, remember. The church is not a humanly devised religious club.

37:14 It is not a convenient, pragmatic association of people gathered together to do their religious thing. Timothy, it is God's house, indwelt by God's Spirit, the place of God's special presence, the place Christ says He will be present if but two or three are gathered in His name. And Timothy, you must make this plain to God's people. This is not their house.

37:44 Their will is not to govern. Their preferences and prejudices are not to stand in the way of apostolic directives. They are not so to sin in their relationships to God and one another that they grieve the Holy Spirit. They are not to have destructive attitudes that would undermine the stability and glory of the church.

38:06 Him that destroys the church, God will destroy. You see, Paul is deeply concerned about living together in God's house. First of all, because of the glory of the church in its identity as house of God. But then the second aspect of the identity, he says, which is the church or the assembly of the living God.

Fundamental Reasons: The Glorious Identity of the Church as the Church of the Living God

38:36 There at Ephesus, there were many assemblies, many congregations. who gathered for the worship of the goddess Diana. Remember what happened as recorded in Acts 19 when Paul preached at Ephesus? And the people that made the idols were losing their business.

38:52 People were getting converted and turning from those dumb idols that the psalmist says have eyes but see not in ears and hear not in mouths and talk not. And there was a tremendous disruption. They knew, these Ephesians, what it was to worship dead gods, lowercase g. They knew what it was in the language of Paul to the Thessalonians to turn from those idols to God.

39:19 And notice how he describes God in that context. 1 Thessalonians 1.9 Paul said, They themselves report of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, how that you turn to God from your idols, to serve the living and the true God. You turn to the God who is identified as the living and the true one.

39:45 You see the livingness and the reality are joined. Everything that is called God that is not God is a dead idol. Whether an idol of the mind or an idol made with the hands. The livingness is joined to the reality, or the truthfulness.

40:06 He is the living and the true God. And these Ephesians knew from that epistle that had been circulated among them that only the living God can do what has to happen to sinners to make them part of his house. Ephesians chapter 2. You did he make alive who were dead in your trespasses and sins, wherein you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power, according to the power of the air, the spirit who is actively working in the sums of disobedience, among whom you all had your manner of life in time past fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

40:50 But God, but God, but God, the living God, the true God, who is rich in mercy, quickened us together with Christ, raised us up and made us to sit with him in heavenly peace. He is the living God, the true God, who is rich in mercy, quickened us together with Christ, raised us up and made us to sit with him in heavenly peace. He is the living God, the true God, who is rich in mercy, quickened us together with Christ, raised us up and made us to sit with him in heavenly peace. And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and,

41:35 and, play games with deity that is the ever-living one. And that emphasis comes through in Scripture. Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10, where the apostle is warning, or the writer of the Hebrews is warning about the sin of apostasy and a willful turning away from Christ and repudiating of one's profession, trotting underfoot the Son of God, counting the blood of the covenant an unholy thing. Verse 30, For we know him that said, Vengeance belongs to me, I will recompense. And

42:13 again, the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. It's not a notion, an abstract construct of people who can't hack it in life, and so they've got to project upward a form of something bigger and grander. No, he is the living God, and it's fearful to fall into his hands.

42:37 He's the living God. Timothy, as you go about your labors, this church, this assembly is not only God's house, but it's the living God's church. And surely what he has revealed as acceptable behavior in his house must be regarded with the utmost reverence and care. Living together in the Father's house is living in the house of the living God. And do you remember how

43:09 God underscored that so powerfully in those early chapters of the book of Acts? He does it on the one hand by pouring out such measures of grace that these people act in such a way that people are astounded. They are relinquishing, all voluntarily relinquishing property and goods to minister one to another. It says, Great grace was upon them all. And then there were two of them that said,

43:39 we're going to get our heads together, and we're going to play games. Their names were Ananias and Sapphira. This is a wonderful, happy time in this lovable, lovable, love orgy. We can get away with a little lying to one another and to God. You read Acts 5.

44:12 God killed them. God! He's the living God. You don't mess around in his house. He's the living

44:25 God. Now, is he a different God from the God who poured the grace of love into their hearts, one to another? So that the scripture says, no man said that anything he possessed was his own. The attitude was, I hold it in common title, and whenever there's a need, I'm willing to relinquish title voluntarily unto us. Is that the God who moves them to do that? And this some demon that comes

44:52 into the church that takes credit for killing them? No, he's the one true and living God.

45:01 Serious business behavior in his house. I didn't write it. And the Holy Ghost doesn't put a footnote saying, I'm sorry I had to put this chapter in the Bible. I'm sorry I had to put this chapter in the Bible, unless you get a wrong view of God. No, it's right there in all its details. Why has Satan

45:16 filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit? You have not lied unto men, but unto God. Well, I thought they only lied to Peter. He was the human instrument, but he was a caretaker in God's house, the church of the living God. And when you deliberately lie on issues of sin that compromise

45:39 the testimony of Christ, you are wrong. Timothy has all the motivation he needs, considering that this is God's house. God in grace and love and pity has come to take dead sinners and quicken them in union with Christ the Lord and make them his dwelling place. But it's the assembly of the living God. And it's a

46:13 fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. And even when there is not that dread, that fear of dread that is appropriate, when anyone contemplates turning aside from Christ. Look at Hebrews chapter 12. This is written to saints pressing on in the way of holiness. And after contrasting what men came to under the old

46:39 covenant and the blessings to which they now come under the new covenant, what's the conclusion of the whole matter? Verse 28. Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace and grace. And let us have grace and grace. And let us have grace and grace. And let us have

46:55 grace whereby we may offer service well pleasing to God with nothing but foot dancing, hand clapping, Halleluiah joy! I hope you know some foot dancing, hand clapping, Halleluiah joy as a Christian. I have my seasons. I don't dance in public, but I've done more than once in private.

47:20 And I don't raise and clap my hands in public, but I confess without shame I've on it in private. But what does the text say? You look at it. Listen to what it says. In

47:34 the light of what we receive in grace, and in the certainty of God's new covenant promises a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace. We need grace to offer service well pleasing to God. And what is to characterize it? With reverence and awe. Why? For our God,

47:56 the living God, is a consuming fire. The grace of God has not changed God into a little shadow of a flame. He's the living God who is a consuming fire. And while we worship him in all the glory and wonder of new covenant privilege, and the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, that joy is not inconsistent with the strictest reverence.

48:29 And awe. And at the heart of that reverence and awe is the realization that his church, as that relates to our life together, it's the church of the living God, of the living God. That's why we sang, how sweet and awesome is the place. Sweet! God brings together what

48:59 the world can not understand, but which the heart of every true believer knows. But now very quickly, we must be concerned about this matter of behavior and behavior in God's house, not only because of the glorious identity of the church, house of God, church of the living God, but secondly, its strategic function. Because of its strategic function, look at our text again, that men may know how to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, that's identity, now function, the pillar and ground

Fundamental Reasons: The Strategic Function of the Church as Pillar and Ground of the Truth

49:36 of the truth. Now, obviously, the key words are pillar, ground, and truth. The pillar is that which supports the roof. It's the vertical support system. Many of you remember in the story of

49:49 Samson, when he goes into the house of the God of Dagon, he puts his hands on two of the main support pillars, cries to God for strength that in his death he might magnify God, and he pushes those two support pillars. The whole structure comes crashing down, and Samson slays more in his death than in his life. The pillar, that which supports the roof, the vertical structures that hold up the roof. He says the church in its function is pillar. Secondly, it's foundation. Adrioma, only time

50:26 found in the New Testament. And it either means a buttress that strengthens the pillar, or more likely, it's the concept of the foundation that's underneath the pillar. Some of you home handymen, you're building a deck, and you're going to dig your footings to put in your supports. Why? Because you know that the vertical support post will only be as stable as

50:46 the footing beneath them. Some of you have done construction work. When the backhoe comes in and digs the ditch for the footings, they mark out the places where the vertical supports are going to go, and they dig deeper to put in more concrete, because the vertical support will only be as efficient as the foundation under it. So Paul says, The church in its function is not only pillar that supports and upholds the truth, it is foundation support of the pillars. The church is both pillar and support. Foundation which

51:21 sustains the pillars, the pillars which hold the roof. And all in relationship to what Paul calls the truth. The truth. I read this morning in my own devotions, in John's gospel, the cynical pilot. What is truth? What is truth? Well, the answer of our Lord in John 17, 17 is the simplest

51:47 answer. Sanctify them in the truth. Thy word is truth. And in the context of 1 Timothy, it is the truth uniquely and particularly that focuses on the person and work of Christ, for he launches right in, in verse 16, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.

52:09 He who was manifested in the flesh, justified. In other words, the church is both foundation and pillar of that truth which has as its central focus the person and work of Jesus Christ and all of God's redemptive grace in him. But though that is the center, it's not the circumference. The circumference of truth is the whole counsel of God. And when we read Paul's writing to Timothy,

52:37 we see that he is passionately concerned that Timothy contends for all of God's truth, and particularly the truth that focuses in the person and work of his son. Now, is this saying that the church creates the truth? No. The truth is an objective, revealed reality. The church, looking at it from a

52:59 different standpoint, is the child of the truth. How is the church formed? 1 Peter chapter 1. Peter says, you were born again, not of corruptible sin. Peter says, you were born again, not of corruptible sin. Peter says, you were born again, not of corruptible sin.

53:11 But of incorruptible by the word of God which lives and abides forever. That objective truth concerning Jesus Christ, concerning God as creator and lawgiver and judge and Christ as redeemer and the Holy Spirit as renewer and sanctifier and the empowerer of his people, that is objective truth. Now, that truth births this one and that one and that one unto new life. And those who are birthed are constituted by God.

53:41 They now become God's house. They now become church of the living God. And the deposit of truth is given to them to uphold it before the world and to make sure that it is maintained within the halls of God's house. So the church does not create the truth. The church receives the truth as a stewardship, but in terms of its function, it is both pillar.

54:11 And here I want to quote what to me has been a most helpful, helpful insight from one of God's servants from another generation. I don't like to give long quotes in the sermon, but he has said something so much more perceptively and accurately and succinctly than I could. Commenting on this, Fairbairn writes,

54:46 The pillar and the basement of the truth, it is a test we have to deal with as well as a claim to consider. For the truth is not of the church's making, but of God's revealing. She has it not of her own, but from above, and has it not to alter or modify it to her own will, but to keep as a sacred treasure for the glory of God and the good of men. And if she should anyhow corrupt or lose hold of this truth, she so forfeits it.

55:16 And so far ceases to be the house of God. For she now does that part to the devil's lie which ought to have been done exclusively for the sure word of God. That is, the church can end up supporting the lie. It was so, we know, with much of the pretentious section of the Jewish community before the time of Christ.

55:37 And the apostle has elsewhere informed us that in the Christian church there was to be a great apostasy, a mystery of iniquity working under the cloak of Christian profession. In consequence of which many should be given up to believe a lie. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Rightly understood, therefore, this passage determines nothing for the claims of Rome or for any church which rests its claims to apostolic succession.

56:02 The grand test of any church is this. Does she hold by the truth of God? Is she in her belief and practice a witness for this? Or does she gainsay and pervert it?

56:16 The church in its function is pillar and ground of the truth. And only when she holds the truth as a divine trust and seeks to defend and support and even, in the language of Jude, contend earnestly for that truth, does she fulfill her God-intended function. And it is this, you see, that Paul wants Timothy to feel and to understand as he gives himself to implementing these directives. These directives for living together in God's house.

56:49 Timothy, to the extent that the church, its ethicists, embodies and lives out the truth of God with respect to male and female roles, half a chapter given to what women can and should and should not and must not do in the church. Why? Because if role reversals are declared to be the fruit of the Word, the gospel, that's a lie!

57:20 The gospel does not reverse creation.

57:25 The gospel enhances creation. And male leadership is programmed by the creature. And female submission is programmed by the creator. That's truth!

57:44 Now what happens in the church when you have women taking authoritative roles of teaching and governing? The church is speaking a lie. She's saying the gospel negates creation. That's a lie.

57:56 That's a lie. That's a lie. That's why in this next chapter, Paul says when people tell you that to really be holy and to really be the shining ones in the church, you need to go on a vegetarian diet and you should be celibate. What does he call that?

58:12 Doctrines of demons!

58:16 He calls it. Why? Because it's the demonic lie. Every creation of God is good.

58:23 You see, when people say redemption negates creation, they're telling a lie. And the church must not bear witness to lies. In every facet of her life, she must embody the truth. Is it a truth that people can be savingly united to Christ and still live willfully in patterns of sin and worldliness?

58:44 No! So if the church does not deal with such and discipline such, what is she doing? She's proclaiming a lie. You can belong to Christ.

58:54 You can be in Christ and in his church and live as you please. No! The church, the church is to speak the truth, the whole corpus of truth. The church in her life is to be the embodiment of truth, all of God's truth, in all facets of her life.

Conclusion: The Importance of Proper Ordering and Right Equipment of the Church

59:13 And that's how Paul seeks to motivate his spiritual child, Timothy, that he might give himself to that labor. And I close with these words from B.B. Warfield in his masterful treatment of this passage, in an introduction.

59:30 Oh, I'll take you to a sermon on verse is on verse 16. It's his introduction, to the service and these are his choice words. In his introduction at the close of these directions, now the apostle adds these pointed words, the directions about elders and deacons. He adds these words.

59:48 I'm writing these things to you, though I hope to come to you very soon. But if I'm delayed that, you may know what sort of behavior is incumbent upon. God's house, seeing it is the church, of the living God, the pillar. In butt of the truth, and confessedly great is the mystery of godliness. You see, his appeal to the confessed

60:07 greatness of the truth, for the support and propagation of which in the world the church exists, is intended to impress upon Timothy the importance of the proper ordering and right equipment of the church, for this is high function. It is of the more importance that we should note this, because there is a disposition abroad to treat all matters of ordering the public worship, and even of the organization of the church, as of little importance. We hear it said about us in wearisome frequency that the New Testament has no rules to give, no laws to lay down in such

60:48 matters. Matters of church government and modes of worship, we are told, are merely external things of no sort of significance, and the church has been left free to find its own best modes of organization and worship, varying doubtless in the passage of time and in the church's own passage from people to people of diverse characters and tastes. No countenance is lent to such sentiments in this passage, or by the pastoral epistles. On the contrary, Paul's point of view is precisely the opposite. He takes his start from the inestimable importance

61:26 of the gospel, then he argues to the importance of the gospel, and then he argues to the importance of the gospel, and then he argues to the importance of the gospel. He takes his start from the of the church which has been established in the world as the organ of the gospel, the pillar and buttress on which its purity and its completeness rests. And then he amplifies that, and then he uses the illustration. He said, imagine someone telling you, one might as well say it makes no difference how a machine is put together, how, for example, a typewriter is disposed in its several parts, because in truth we're not concerned with the typewriter. It doesn't exist for itself,

61:57 but for the manuscript produced by it. And then he goes on to say, would you say then the way the pieces go together is a matter of indifference? If it's to fulfill its function, all of its parts must be in their proper place and in relationship to one another. And then, lest I wear you with the lengthy quote, he goes on to drive this home, that this must be the disposition of the people of God. God has established his church. God has given directings, directions for

62:27 living in his church. And if we love the God and the Christ who have established the church, then we with Timothy will have an apostolic concern to make sure that by the grace of God, our behavior in God's house, the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth, reflects an earnest desire that we should conform all of our life to the word of God. The word of the living God. Well, I trust, dear people, that this study and this passage has, if it was already there, I hope it's inflamed and stirred up within you an eager

63:10 expectation and yearning that God will draw near to us in these days when the doctrine of the church is being expounded along the lines of our confession in the adult class and various principles and precepts of how we've agreed to walk together, our health, our health, our teachings, all these principles and precepts of how we've gathered, how we've formed a unit within ourselves, how we've built up and expounded and applied from the scriptures. See beyond this exercise what we're aiming for. That we want God's house to be glorious in God's sight. We want his church to be patently his church and we desire that in every facet

Prayer and Benediction

63:49 of our life together it will be evident that we are what God has made us, pillar and ground of the truth. Let's pray. Let's pray. Father, we do thank you for your holy word.

64:07 We thank you for your servant, the Apostle Paul, and your gracious dealings with him and for your use of him as a human instrument. And we thank you for this portion that we've considered together this morning. And we do ask that as we enter into this series of studies on living together in your house, that you will come and set up afresh your rightful claims in all of our hearts. And we pray, Father, that you would deal with anything in our thinking or in our practice that is displeasing to you, that violates the house rules that you have established.

64:52 We do desire to know the presence and power of an ungrieved Holy Spirit among us in all of our life and labor and witness together. So help us, our Father, we pray. Be with us now as we leave this place. Go to our homes, rest, have fellowship with one another.

65:11 We pray that the remainder of this day will be a means of grace in your hands to draw us closer to you, closer to one another. Bring us together again tonight that we may have a season of unbounded holy joy as we behold these who will confess your son. In the way of his appointment. And as we take into our hands and into our bodies those emblems of the dying love of our Lord Jesus.

65:41 Oh God, crown the day with your blessing we plead in Jesus' name. Amen.