May I urge you to follow in your
own Bibles this morning as I read from Paul's first letter to Timothy,
the portion of the Word of God that we commonly designate as
1 Timothy. I shall begin the reading in
chapter 2 and verse 1, 1 Timothy 2 and verse 1. I would like you
to think of these two chapters as one chapter. They are relatively
brief. I exhort, therefore, first of
all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgiving be made for all
men, for kings and all that are in high place that we may lead a tranquil and
quiet life in all godliness and gravity. This is good and acceptable
in the sight of God our Savior, who would have all men to be
saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one
God, one mediator also between God and men, Himself man, Christ
Jesus. who gave himself a ransom for
all, the testimony to be born in its own times, whereunto I
was appointed a preacher and an apostle, I speak the truth,
I lie not, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. I desire
therefore that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy
hands without wrath and disputing, in like manner that the women
adorn themselves in modest apparel, with decency and propriety, not
with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly raiment, but,
which becometh women professing godliness, through good works. Let a woman learn in quietness
with all subjection. But I permit not a woman to teach,
nor to have dominion over a man, but to be in quietness. For Adam
was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not utterly beguiled,
but the woman being utterly beguiled—there is an intensification of the
word in the original—hath fallen into the transgression. But she
shall be saved through her childbearing, if they continue in faith and
love, and sanctification with sobriety. Faithful is the saying,
if a man seeks the office of a bishop or an overseer, he desires
of good work. The overseer, therefore, must
be without reproach the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded,
orderly, given to hospitality, apt to teach, no brawler, no
striker, but gentle, not contentious, no lover of money, one that ruleth
well his own house. having his children in subjection
with all gravity, but if a man knows not how to rule his own
house, how shall he take care of the church of God? Not a novice,
lest being puffed up he fall into the condemnation of the
devil. Moreover, he must have good testimony from them that
are without, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the
devil. Deacons in like manner must be
grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy
of filthy lucre, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure
conscience. And let these also first be proved,
then let them serve as deacons, if they be blameless. Women in
like manner must be grave, not slanderous, temperate, faithful
in all things. Let deacons be husbands of one
wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For they
that have served well as deacons gain to themselves a good standing
and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. These
things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But
if I tarry long, that thou mayest 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. And without controversy
great is the mystery of godliness. He who was manifested in the
flesh justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached among
the nations, believed on in the world, received up in glory." It has often been said, and I
am sure many if not all of you have heard the saying, that there
is perhaps no greater nor more important question with respect
to discerning where a person is spiritually than the question,
what do you think of Christ? For you see, a person's estimation
of the identity of Christ as to his person and the nature
of Christ's work on behalf of sinners and his own heart's relationship
to Christ in the uniqueness of his person and in the perfection
of his work is indeed the real index of where he is spiritually. And in the first preaching session
of this conference, I should like to underscore that very
fundamental issue. We come from a diversity of backgrounds,
we come out of the matrix of a broad spectrum of various degrees
of exposure to preaching and teaching, and in a very real
sense, nothing more quickly lays bare the state of the heart of
any man, woman, boy or girl in this building this morning than
that question, what do you think of Christ? What is your estimation
of His person? Do you see in Him, by the revelation
of the Spirit through the Word, that One who is true God and
true man? Do you see in His work the only
sufficient basis for God extending a perfect righteousness, full
pardon, and unqualified acceptance to guilty sinners? And with all
of your heart, do you run out to Him in faith and in love? But next to that question, what
do you think of Christ, I want to suggest that perhaps second
in importance with respect to your spiritual state is the question,
what do you think of Christ's Church? Second only in importance to
the question, what do you think of Christ, is the question, what
do you think of Christ's Church? And if we are thinking biblically,
we cannot separate those two questions. For the Scriptures
describe the Lord Jesus, in reference to his Church, in such amazing
language as that which we find in the end of Ephesians 1, in
which the Apostle speaks of the Church of Christ as the very
fullness of Christ himself. And in Ephesians chapter 5 he
speaks of the church as being so intimately joined to Christ
that even the description of the union between a husband and
wife in which the two become one flesh pales in insignificance
before that greater mystery. And Paul says, I speak concerning
Christ and his church, and he nourishes and cherishes the church
as his own body. And so there can be no true reckoning
with Christ while ignoring that which is his body, that which
is the fullness of him that fills all in all, namely, his church. And so that this subject should
be taken up in a conference where we trust the glory of Christ
person and the sufficiency of Christ's work will again and
again be brought to our attention, it is indeed fitting that our
attention should likewise be directed to His glorious Church. And what I propose to do in the
two sessions allotted to me, rather than give you a popular
lecture or two after the vein of systematic theology, which
I would like to do in some respects so that you would have a broad
overview of all of the pivotal or the most strategic passages
on the doctrine of the Church, I want to approach the subject
more pastorally and more exegetically. And so, God willing, this morning
we'll spend the remainder of our time unpacking Paul's words
in 1 Timothy 3, verses 14 and 15, the nature of our study today
being basically an exposition with very little, if any, application. and then, God willing, tomorrow
morning, having seen the truths contained in the passage with
respect to the Church in the dignity of its nature and function,
then tomorrow's message will be all application. If these
were Puritan days when one could preach two-hour sermons, you
would get the whole sermon in one dose. But because of the
circumstances of the conference, you get the first half this morning,
the explication, the opening up, the exposition, and, God
willing, tomorrow, in Puritan terminology, the uses of the
doctrine, or application 1, 2, 3, ending up with number 8, if
time gives us the opportunity. Now then, as we come to the words
of the Spirit of God given through the pen of the Apostle in chapter
3, verses 14 and 15, follow as I read these words again. These
things I am writing to you, hoping to come unto you shortly. But
if I tarry long, that thou mayest or that one may know how to behave
himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living
God, the pillar and the foundation of the truth. Now my thesis is
that if God will help us by the Spirit to come to grips with
the teaching deposited in these two verses, particularly in verse
15, we will have laid hold of some of the most profound and
fundamental concepts of the Church to be found anywhere in the Word
of God. And if by the Spirit's help I
am enabled to unpack the truth, and by the aid of the same Spirit
you receive it, then God, I trust, will send us from this place
with an appreciation for the Church of Christ that hitherto
we have never known. Now in the opening up of the
verses you will notice first of all that Paul makes reference
to the specific circumstances which precipitated this letter
to Timothy. Now I am confident that many
of you realize that piecing together the chronological details and
the historical circumstances given to us in the Book of Acts
and alluded to in the Epistles is often a very difficult task,
and not infrequently it results in very uncertain and tentative
conclusions. However, it is most likely, and
a good deal of evidence can be brought forward to support this
assertion, that Paul has been released from his first imprisonment,
and on his way to Asia Minor, Titus has been left at Crete,
as we read in Titus 1, He comes to Ephesus with Timothy, but
he must press on and pass on from there, and so he says in
chapter 1 and verse 3 of 1 Timothy, I exhorted thee to tarry at Ephesus
when I was going into Macedonia. And so Timothy leaves behind
in Ephesus this companion who was unique to him in terms of
sharing his own spirit as we read in Philippians chapter 2,
I have no man like minded. And then he speaks of Timothy
whose crowning grace was this instinctive, self-giving love
on behalf of others as he served in the work of the gospel. So
in a very real sense, according to our text, Paul, being unable
to remain at Ephesus, expresses in his letter to Timothy the
perspectives, the activities, and the priorities which would
have marked his own physical presence and ministry had he
remained in Ephesus. These things I am writing to
you, hoping to come shortly, but, if I tarry long, in order
that, so that the perspective that is in the mind of the apostle
is one of seeking to make Timothy his hands, his feet, and his
mouth, to carry out the vision of his own mind and heart with
reference to the church in Ephesus. Then notice in the second place
the explicit purpose for this particular section of the letter. If the opening words describe
the general circumstances in which the letter was penned,
we also find in the text the explicit purpose for which this
section of the letter was written. Now, a key to a proper understanding
of the passage is the precise identity of the words, these
things. These things I am writing unto
you. Now, do the tauta, the these
things, refer to the entire letter, or do they refer to concerns
of a more limited nature? Well, if we tie together the
these things I write with the clause of purpose that follows
in verse 15, I believe we have the answer to our question. These
things I am writing to you in order that one may know how men
ought to behave themselves in the house of God. so that these
things has distinct if not exclusive reference to the matters pertaining
to behavior within the house of God. And so most likely he
is referring to the things read in your hearing this morning.
For you'll notice that the beginning of chapter two marks a transition
I exert therefore first of all." So a subject is being taken up
that has a first, and though we do not have a second and a
third, there is obviously a transition to other concerns. And that which
gives unity to chapters 2 through chapter 3 and verse 13 are the
distinctive things of specific behavior patterns within God's
house the church. He takes up the things of their
public worship in the first seven verses. Worship that is to be
characterized by prayerfulness. Prayerfulness that reflects proper
concepts of God. both in his sovereignty and in
his compassion towards all men. And then in verses 8 through
15 he takes up the things of church order, the relative roles
and responsibilities of men and women as they conduct themselves
within the house of God. And then obviously in chapter
3, he takes up the matter of the recognition of elders and
deacons. These are the things pertaining
to the government and official diaconal service of the Church
of Jesus Christ. And so it is safe to say that
the explicit purpose of at least this section, bounded by 2.1
and 3.13, is the matter of behavior in the church and by the church,
and that which we must underscore is the fact that it is obligatory
behavior. Paul uses the little particle
of necessity, day, translated in our Bibles, ought. And it
is that very word which our Lord uses in Luke 24 when he says,
Thus it is written, and thus it was day. It was necessary
for Christ to suffer to die, to be raised from the dead on
the third day. And so the explicit purpose for
this section, at least, and I am personally convinced that these
things also anticipate the matters which follow For he takes up
other matters of church practice and behavior, such things as
the relationship of the various groups within the church, the
care and concern of widows, the church caring for its overseers,
and other matters that we would call house rules for the people
of God. But now we need not debate or
come to some final resolution as to whether these things should
be limited to chapters 2 and 3 or extend on to the end of
the epistle. This much is clear. The Church
in Ephesus was already firmly established through the labors
of the great Apostle Paul. He spent more time in that church
than in any other church in which he labored in his missionary
endeavors. Although elders had already been
raised up and were functioning according to Acts chapter 20,
Yet the apostle is so passionately concerned for the life and order
of the church at Ephesus that he leaves behind this eminently
gifted and useful servant of Christ to carry on more work
in the perfecting of behavior in the church at Ephesus. Now in the face of the mentality
that prevails in our day, Paul was a very poor missionary strategist. Had not Ephesus been evangelized? Had not the church been planted? And not only planted, had it
not been furnished with a richness of gift in terms of a plurality
and parity of oversight? Was it not the recipient of all
of that rich instruction of the apostle and the sober warnings
given to the elders? Surely, if any section had been
evangelized and the church established, and now it is time to move on
to more fertile fields and to great, as it were, new frontiers
for the gospel, surely it is now. And especially when you
have a man like Timothy, who obviously had not only great
gifts of administration and gifts to teach, but had no little measure
of an evangelistic gift, for Paul could say, do the work of
an evangelist. to take an evangelist off the
field, to pull a man back, as it were, from the front lines
and deposit him in a place where the Church is already established
and flourishing. Paul, you don't understand the
principles of missionary outreach and the cause of advancing the
Church of Christ. Yet he tells us this was his
explicit purpose for this section of the letter. Well, that raises
a question, if you're listening at all. And the question is,
surely he must have had some good reasons for doing this.
For whatever else we find when we read the epistles of Paul
is that he never acted on impulse, or rarely. And he certainly didn't
act on the basis of emotional jags. There were deep, well-thought-out
perspectives that impelled him to action. That brings us in
the third place to the thing that is the heart of our study
this morning, having considered the general circumstances in
which he wrote the letter, the explicit purpose for this section
of the letter, now the fundamental reasons for this concern expressed
with reference to his purpose. What reasons lay behind this
decision to leave Timothy at Ephesus and now to write to him
concerning behavior in the house of God? I would suggest that the text
answers the question by saying the fundamental reasons for Paul's
concern are grounded in a the glorious identity of the Church,
and secondly, the supreme function of the Church. And if we with
Timothy can be brought to understand in new dimensions the glorious
identity of the Church, what is the Church? We will not think
it strange at all that Paul should leave Timothy at Ephesus and
Paul should then write to Timothy at Ephesus concerning the details
of behavior in the church. And then if we can grasp something
of what he says concerning the supreme function of the church,
again, we will no longer, if we have hitherto, thought his
concerns excessive. First of all, then, the glorious
identity of the Church. Paul's reasons for his actions
and his writing are rooted in his understanding of the glorious
identity of the Church, an identity expressed in two concepts. Look
at the text. That thou mayest know how men
ought to behave themselves in the house of God. which is the
church of the living God. The identity of the church is
set before Timothy under the two-fold imagery of God's house
and the living God's church. And let's take them in the order
in which they come before us in the text. The glorious identity
of the church is that of the house of God. And if you were
to take your concordance to track down this concept, you would
probably end way back in Genesis chapter 28, in that amazing incident
in which God appeared to the fleeing Jacob, and after God
appeared to him, Jacob exclaimed in Genesis 28, verse 17, this
is none other than the house of God. Genesis 28 and verse
17. And he was afraid and said, How
dreadful is this place! This is none other than the house
of God. This is the gate of heaven. And
that mention of the house of God gives us some indication
of the significance of that terminology. It is not as though a physical
building was suddenly erected supernaturally there as Jacob
was dealt with by God, but the fact that God himself drew near
and pronounced himself to be the God of covenant love and
faithfulness, who would enter into peculiar engagements with
his servant and would be with him with his special presence. It was that which caused old
Jacob to exclaim, this is the house of God. And that concept
of the house of God is further developed with great richness
in the days of the wilderness wanderings in conjunction with
the tabernacle. And you have many references
to the tabernacle being called the house of God, references
such as we have in Exodus 23 and verse 19, where the people
of God are said to bring their sacrifices to the house of God. And likewise, though there was
now at least a temporary physical structure, it was not the structure
so much as that which the structure became when the very glory of
God entered the inner sanctuary, and there God manifested Himself
as the God of covenant grace and love, the God who dwelt with
His people in His peculiar redemptive presence as the God of the covenant. But then those concepts that
are initiated in Genesis and fleshed out further in Exodus
come to their fullest expression in conjunction with the construction
and subsequent consecration of that great and ornate temple
under Solomon. And again and again in 1 Kings,
and perhaps some of you will have time to do this in your
own meditations, in 1 Kings 5 1-5, 7-57, 8-10-13, 9-3, throughout
that entire section again and again the temple is referred
to as the great house of God. And it was the house of God again,
because in a peculiar way, you'll remember, after the prayer of
consecration and the offering of the sacrifices, the glory
of God so filled that place that none could enter. God Himself
came in His peculiar presence, in covenant grace and love, to
dwell amongst His people. And that temple then became,
as it were, the type and the symbol, the foreshadowing of
that grand reality of God's final house, His true house, His true
temple and sanctuary that would come into construction in the
new covenant and would go on into the new heavens and the
new earth when the tabernacle of God himself will be with men
and God shall dwell with them. And so it should not surprise
us that when we turn to the New Testament, we find references
again and again to the church as God's house, oikos, God's
sanctuary, His naos, the place where God dwells in His peculiar
and powerful presence in the midst of His people. And Paul,
in essence, is saying to Timothy, some of these instructions may
seem overly concerned with detail. Timothy, some of these instructions
may seem to be relatively unimportant in the light of the fact that
you're laboring in the midst of a pagan world, reeling to
and fro under the heady whine of its pagan ignorance. And Timothy,
something in you at times may burn to break out of so privileged
a place as Ephesus, where the church is established and where
there is church order. But Timothy, if you're ever tempted
to become rested, ever tended to be careless as a workman.
Timothy, remember, it is God's house! It's not your church,
Timothy. It's not my church, Timothy.
It is God's dwelling place. And every line, every angle,
every piece of furniture, every activity within God's house is
of supreme importance because it is indeed God's house. Now any house that is worthy
of the name of a house, unless it is a shack, unless it is a
shambles, will reflect at least five realities. And I don't have
time to open them up, so I'll just give you the heads and hope
you'll fill them in with your own meditation. It must first
of all have an architect, a designer. Then it must have some materials
out of which you build the house. Then there must be an owner.
I'm sorry, there must be an actual work of construction, then there
must be an owner, but all of that comes to naught unless you
have a tenant. And if we go through the New Testament scriptures,
we see in a most marvelous way the Church as the house of God
has all five of those realities. It does indeed have an architect,
and according to Ephesians 3, verses 8 to 11, God pinned his
paper to the board in ages past. And God took rule and compass
and pen and all of his architect's tools, and God designed that
which he would not unfold until the gospel age, that there should
be a church, a temple, a dwelling place for himself that would
reflect all the majesty of divine aesthetics and all the mystery
of infinite wisdom. So much so that Paul can say
that now, unto principalities and powers, those created spiritual
beings in the heavenlies might be made known through the church
the manifold wisdom of God. And as a great and impressive
work of structural work reflects the genius of the original architect,
so Paul says it is in the Church that the manifold, the many-faceted
dimensions of God's wisdom is now displayed unto principalities
and powers. You see, the Church was no afterthought
in the mind of God. Nor was the Church an expedient
from the sincere hearts of men, even inspired men such as the
Apostle Paul. The Church had an architect,
and its architect is God, and God drew the plans in eternity. Then the materials. Well, according
to Ephesians chapter 2, they weren't very pre-materials to
start with. You read the first three verses of Ephesians 2.
They were dead. They were in bondage to sin and
to lust and to the devil. They were children of wrath.
That's how the chapter begins. But look at the last verse of
the chapter. In whom you are builded together to be an habitation
of God. What an unlikely bunch of materials
God went to work with. Dead sinners in bondage to the
devil, marred and scarred by their sin. Yet it was such materials
upon which he had set his love, Ephesians 1.4. His predestinating
design, Ephesians 1.5. They were the objects of the
redemptive activity of Christ the Son, 1.6. And then he brings
them together, the most unlikely materials, materials that, humanly
speaking, would never stay together, according to verses 18 and 19
of that same chapter, Jew and Gentile, than any kind of epoxy
or mortar in the world that could bring them together. But Almighty
God has done it. He takes materials from Jew and
Gentile to build that living spiritual temple and house. And
the builder, of course, is God himself. The Lord Jesus said,
I will build my church, Matthew 16, 18, Hebrews 3, 1-6, 1 Peter
2. The owner, it is God himself, Acts 20, 28. It is the church
of the Lord or the church of God. But then the most glorious thing,
and I pass over the others in the interest of time, a house
is just an ornament without a tenant. And the glory of the church is
to be found supremely in the identity of the tenant. And the
tenant is none other than God himself. And oh, dear people,
if the Spirit of God will somehow bring this home to our hearts,
According to Ephesians 2 and verse 20, we are built together
to be an habitation of God through the Spirit. Think of it. We are
built together to be God's house. He is the great tenant of His
church. So much so that the apostle can
say to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and
verse 16, one of the key texts that we shall look at tomorrow
in the way of application, but just this morning to underscore
this truth, don't you know, you Corinthians, that you, and he
does not use the singular, but you, plural, you, Corinthians,
as a church, you are a temple of God. and that the Spirit of
God dwells in you? Oh yes, there is the biblical
doctrine of the personal indwelling of the personal Spirit in every
individual believer, yes, but there is also this grand doctrine
of the unique and peculiar dwelling of God in the midst of His people,
as His people, as the Church, in their corporate life and identity. Timothy, When you begin to grow
weary of following my directions, remember, it is God's house. It is not your house, Timothy.
It is not my house. And it is behavior in the house
of God that is of supreme importance, because God himself dwells there
and makes the house rules. But then he gives the identity
of the church with a second phrase. He calls it the church of the
living God. Which is, and the relative pronoun
points back to that which he has already described, lest any
out of pagan background identifying a house of God with a physical
temple, or those of a Jewish background thinking in terms
of the carnal, earthly, physical type or shadow, he says, this
house is The church, the assembly, the called out and called together
ones of the living God. The church, His house, is His
people. Now there at Ephesus there were
assemblies or congregations of people called together for the
services and the worship of dead idols. You will remember that
Ephesus was the seat of the worship of the great goddess Diana. Gods who had no livingness, who
in the language of Psalm 135 had eyes but they could not see,
had ears but they could not hear. And so when the apostle, by a
simple stroke, would underscore the uniqueness of the church
in its glorious identity, says to Timothy, Timothy, it is God's
house which is the church, the assembly, the called out and
called together of the God who is marked by His livingness. And according to 1 Thessalonians
1 in verse 9, Livingness in God is parallel to the reality of
His being the only true God. Notice how Paul says it there,
Ye turned unto God from your idols to serve the living and
true God. And the only true God is the
God who is marked by livingness, the God who is something more
than the mere concoction of men's notions, the God who is more
than that which they can frame with their hands into an idol. He is the great Jehovah who can
say, I am. that I am. All that he ever has
been, he is and ever shall be. And Paul says to Timothy, Timothy,
if you have any question about the rationale for my directions,
if you would ever begin to grow weary in the implementation of
them, Timothy, I'm writing to you about behavior in God's house,
and it is nothing less than the assembly, the congregation of
the living God, God in His livingness. has worked to constitute them
a congregation. There would be no ecclesia, there
would be no called out and called together people at Ephesus if
God were like Diana. No, no, it is only a living God
who can unstop the deaf ears of sinners, open the blinded
eyes of sinners, release the enslaved will, and bring them
to life. Timothy, it is the church of
the living God. And I want you to note that the
context demands that we regard this reference as pointing not
exclusively but primarily to the church in its visible, concrete
expression, worshipping, chapter 2, verses 1 to 7, praying, teaching
with men and women in their proper places, churches with elders
and with deacons, so that we must not just press this verse
to a lofty concept of the church universal, or to the church generic,
or to the church theoretical, But he's writing to a specific
person, Timothy, working in the midst of a specific church at
Ephesus, and says to him, Timothy, that congregation is nothing
less than the living God's church. While I trust we abominate the
heresies of landmarkism, I call it a Baptist Romanism. And for
any of you who don't know what landmarkism is, don't bother
to find out. But those who do, Those who do,
I hope that suffices. The silly notion that we trace
a true church back to John the Baptist and then we see the pedigree
coming on down through to the present day. No, no. We abominate
that. And any person who says there
is no reference to the church in the New Testament but a specific
concrete local congregation must do violence to at least four
or five key passages in the New Testament. But the overwhelming
emphasis of the New Testament in its doctrine of the Church
is upon specific, concrete assemblies of God's people, and that's the
emphasis of this passage. And so Timothy in his labors
must ever keep before him the identity of the Church, God's
house, living God's Church. I said I wasn't going to apply
I'll try to behave myself and keep my promise." But now then
it's as though that were not enough. He then says, Timothy,
the second reason for these directions is found not only in the glorious
identity of the Church, but in the supreme function of the Church.
Look at the text. How one ought to behave himself
in the house of God, which is the church of the living God,
the pillar and ground of the truth. Now obviously the key
words are pillar, ground, and truth. Now what's a pillar? Well, a pillar is that which
supports the roof structure. And often in ancient architecture
it was so strategic that the pillar was very prominent and
therefore was often very ornamental in design. That imagery is taken
up in the scriptures. You remember the promise of the
risen Lord to one of the churches in Revelation 3, verse 12. To him that overcometh I will
make him a pillar in the house of my God. I will give him a
place of prominence. But the ornamental concept is
not the predominant concept. But rather the use of this same
word in Galatians 2.9 perhaps helps us, where Paul makes reference
to certain individuals who were pillars in the church at Jerusalem. They held a key place in the
function, in the life, and in the direction of that church. And I'm sure you children, you
young people, can remember the incident of Samson. You remember?
His dying act of valor as a man of God restored from his backsliding. In that great temple of the god
Dagon, he places himself between the two main pillars and he prays
that God will give him strength once more. And as he presses
out upon those pillars, when those two pillars broke, the
entire structure came down and thousands were slain. Now the
apostle takes that imagery which would be very real to those at
Ephesus. For remember, the great temple
of the goddess Diana was there, and those with the Jewish background
knew something of the ornate nature of Solomon's temple and
its porch with its huge and beautiful pillars which held up the roof
and in that sense the entire structure. And now he says, Timothy,
my reason for leaving you at Ephesus and now writing to you
that men may know how to behave themselves in the church is that
the church has a supreme function, a function no less than that
of being the pillar of the truth. If the truth of God is the roof
and the walls, it is the church which upholds it before any given
generation, in any given community and society. It is the church
that is a city, a temple, as it were, set upon a hill. Then he goes further and says
it is not only the pillar, but he says it's the very foundation
or the slab on which that pillar rests. Perhaps the best way to
understand this word in current terminology is to say it was
the basement or the concrete slab or the foundation which
held the pillar. And so Paul is very bold to state
the supreme function of the Church in this language. It is the pillar
and the very ground or foundation which holds the pillar, all with
respect to this one commodity. Look at the text. It is pillar
and foundation of the truth. And what is the truth? The truth
is the sum total of all the revealed realities of God. The truth is
the sum total of all of the revealed realities of God. And Jesus identified
it with His Father's Word in John 17, 17. sanctify them through
the truth, thy word is truth." Now, I am fully aware that in
the context, according to verse 16, The truth of which the church's
pillar and foundation centers in the great mysteries of the
gospel. That's why Paul then launches
into this marvelous statement, and without controversy, great
is the mystery, the unfolded secret of godliness. And then
he just talks about these redemptive acts of the Lord Jesus. Christ
in his person and work are the lodestone of all the revealed
realities of God, but they do not constitute the full circumference. All that God has revealed is
truth, and the church is pillar and ground of the truth. That is all that God has revealed. There is no warrant for the notion
that if a church is doing its job with regard to being faithful
to the message concerning Christ, the uniqueness of His person,
the sufficiency of His work, then matters of church order,
form of worship, matters pertaining to church officers and government,
those are matters of latitudinarian issues. We need not be concerned. My friend, that can never be
supported by this passage. These things I'm writing, And
he didn't give a treatise on Christology. He says, first of
all, I want prayers to be made. Furthermore, I will that the
men pray. Furthermore, I do not permit
a woman to teach. The church is pillar and ground
of the truth. What truth? Not just the central
truths of the gospel, as blessed as they are. But hasn't God revealed
something about the truth of roles? Has God constituted masculinity
and femininity in creation? Yes or no? Well, God helped the
church that upholds a lie. And when women stand in places
of prominence and leadership, the church is saying, God makes
no difference. Rural relationships are cultural. That is a lie. That's why he says, Timothy,
I desire that the men be found in places of leadership, that
the women learn in silence. The Church is pillar and ground
of the truth, and it's to be pillar and ground of every truth
that God has revealed. In the language of Acts 20, the
whole counsel of God. Calvin, in his most perceptive
way, comes to the heart of the meaning of this part of the text
when he says this, It is no ordinary dignity that is ascribed to the
Church when it is called the pillar and the ground of the
truth. For what higher terms could he
have used to describe it? There is nothing more venerable
and holy than the truth, which embraces both God's glory and
man's salvation. were all the praises which its
admirers have lavished on heathen philosophy gathered together
into one. It could not compare with the
worth of this heavenly wisdom, which alone has a title to be
called Light and Truth and Instruction for Living the Way and the Kingdom
of God. But this truth is preserved in
the world only through the Church's ministry. What a weight of responsibility
rests upon pastors to whom has been entrusted the charge of
such an inestimable treasure! How shameless are the triflings
of the papist! who infer from Paul's word that
all their absurdities should be considered the oracles of
God because they are the pillars of the truth and therefore infallible. No, you see, the church is pillar
and ground of the truth, an external independent commodity, and it
is pillar and ground of the truth only so far as it is itself the
living impress and transcript of that truth. The truth gives
birth to a church and the church becomes pillar and ground of
that truth. Then Calvin goes on to say, thus
it is easy to infer in what sense Paul means these words. The church
is the pillar of the truth because by its ministry the truth is
preserved and spread. God does not Himself come down
from heaven to us, nor does He daily send angelic messengers
to publish His truth, but He uses the labors of pastors whom
He has ordained for this purpose, or to put it in a more homely
way. Is not the Church the mother of all believers? Because She
brings them to new birth by the Word of God, educates and nourishes
them all in their life, strengthens them and finally leads them to
complete perfection. The Church is called the pillar
of the truth for the same reason, for the office of administering
doctrine which God has put in her hands is the only means for
preserving the truth, that it may not pass from the memory
of men. In consequence, this commendation
applies to the ministry of the Word, for if it is removed, God's
truth will fall." Then he goes on to amplify with equally perceptive
statements. But my time is gone, and I want
to bring this all to a conclusion. again without application, but
I trust to our prophet as we've looked at this text this morning.
Timothy, I've written these things to you, hoping to come shortly.
And you know, Timothy, if I were to come, you know what I'd do?
The very things I'm telling you to do—regulate the behavior of
God's people. And Timothy, if you have any
question as to why this is of such a pressing concern to me,
Timothy, remember, oh remember, and feed your soul upon the glorious
identity of the Church. It is God's house, Timothy. It
is Church of the Living God. And surely, Timothy, if anything
will keep you from pragmatism, expediency, or self-imposed notions,
the remembrance of this, it is God's Church that will keep you,
Timothy. It is God's house. And Timothy,
when in your native timidity and in the midst of your physical
weakness, your zeal would flag and coldness would begin to engulf
you, and you sense a desire to be careless, Timothy, remember,
there in Ephesus, in that veritable sink of pagan iniquity and darkness,
God has made the church the pillar and the foundation of the truth,
the truth without which men cannot be saved, the truth apart from
which they cannot be brought to maturity in Christ. Timothy,
labor on amidst your weakness. Labor on amidst your fears. Timothy, it is God's house. It is church of a living God. It is pillar. It is ground of
the truth. Oh my friend, don't you see what
a radical and powerful influence this can have upon us if we view
the Church as Paul viewed it. May God write these perspectives
upon our hearts, and then God willing, as I have suggested,
tomorrow morning, in the light of what God has made the Church
in its identity and function, there come to us some very pointed
and sobering words of application which we shall take up on that
occasion.