It is such a great delight to
be with you again. Open your Bibles with me, if
you will, to the book of 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy chapter 3. The title of my message tonight is,
What Should a Church Be? 1 Timothy 3 verse 14. These things write I unto thee,
hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I tarry long, that thou
mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house
of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and
ground of the truth. What should the church be? That's
the subject I want to address this evening. It's been my great
privilege, delight, responsibility to serve as your pastor for the
last few years since you started being together. And now God's
given you a pastor, Brother Eric Richardson. He's a dear friend. I've known him all his life.
I can't commend him highly enough to this congregation and to this
community. His wife, Amy, was raised in
our congregation. I've known her all of her life
and just can't speak highly enough of her. You're greatly blessed
of God. I can't tell you how very excited
I am, our congregation is, Shelby and I, we're excited about the
prospects before you. I've not said this to anyone
until tonight when we're meeting at supper, I told some of the
fellows, If I weren't where I knew God
would have me to be, I would jump at the chance of being here.
I'm just excited about the prospect. This is such a huge area. And
I pray that God will be pleased to establish a strong witness
for the gospel in this place. I can't think of a better way
for me to bring the last two messages that I would bring to
you in this current capacity. Brother Eric will be your pastor.
But for now, these two times, I'm going to speak one more time,
and then tomorrow night, one more time, as though I were still
your pastor. And I want to talk real plain
to you about two things. I've got two messages, if the
Lord will give me what I'm working on for tomorrow, that I believe
will profit you for today and for years to come, if He'll make
the message effective to you. Tonight, my subject is, what
should the church be? Tomorrow night, I ain't gonna
tell you, you'll have to come find out. What should the church
be? The Apostle Paul is here writing
to us concerning the church, the ministry of the gospel. Let
me make this observation. Understand that our Lord in his
infinite wisdom and goodness has established two institutions
for the benefit of his people. for the well-being of his people
particularly and of mankind in general for the benefit of his
people particularly. Before Adam sinned in the garden,
God established a home. Before sin entered into the world,
the Lord God saw that it was not good for a man to live alone
and so he took from Adam a rib and out of Adam's rib he made
a woman and brought her to the man. As Eve was taken from Adam,
she was brought to him by the hand of God at God's appointed
time. Even so, the church of our Lord
Jesus Christ, God's elect, are taken from our Redeemer. And
in the process of time, at God's appointed time, each of his chosen
brought by effectual grace to the Lord Jesus Christ. But our
union with Christ is everlasting. As long as he stood as our surety,
we stood in him and are one with him. As Eve was brought to Adam,
God brought her to Adam to be a help, a beach for him. And they lived together in a
blessed union as a home, a home, a family. God gave them two sons,
Cain and Abel, and even with the misery and the pain that
was brought upon them after the fall, because of the fall, yet
Adam and Eve dwelt together in the blessed happiness of that
original home. God did this to preserve society,
to preserve the moral well-being of society, to keep men and women
from living like brute beasts as most people do these days.
And he did so for the progeny of the race to preserve his elect
in this fallen race so that marriage is honorable in all and the bed
undefiled. It's an honorable thing among
all people. The marriage is ordained by God
for the happiness of man, the well-being of society. And among
men in this world, nothing is sweeter and happier, more blessed,
more comforting than a home. Home is not the house a family
lives in. Home is where the family is.
Home is the family itself. Shelby and I now, we have our
daughter and son-in-law, grandchildren, but our home, two of us. And we're just as much at home
over here in this motel room as we're on the hill back there
behind the church building in Danville. Home is where the family is. This is my home. We live together
in happiness by the blessing of God. And I pity the man, I
pity the woman, who does not know what it is to enjoy the
blessedness of a happy, peaceful, loving home. That's the first
institution. But then the Lord established
another. He established his church, the
Church of the Living God. When Peter made his confession,
thou art the Christ, the son of the living God, our Lord Jesus
said, upon this rock, that is the rock of your confession,
I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. This second institution, the
church, is even more precious, more needful, and more important
than the first. Hold your hands here in 1 Timothy.
We'll be back in a minute. And look at the book of Mark.
Mark chapter 3. I want you to see this. I said the church of God is more
important, more needful, more precious than your home or mine. That is some statement. That
is some statement. Let's see if I can make good
on it from the book. Our Lord Jesus is here ministering to
some folks and in verse 31 of Mark chapter 3. There came then
his brethren and his mother and standing without sent unto him
calling him. And the multitude sat about him,
and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without
seek for thee. These, his mother and his brethren
in the flesh, his physical brothers, his half-brothers, they seek
thee. And he answered them, saying,
Who is my mother or my brethren? And he looked round on them which
sat about him and said, Behold, Behold, my mother and my brethren. This is my family. This is my
family. But you came out of her womb,
yeah? But she's going to the grave.
This is my family. Behold, my mother and my brethren,
for whosoever shall do the will of God The same as my mother
and my sister, my brother and my sister, and my mother. Our
spiritual family is more important than our physical families. The
house of God is to be preferred to our own households. The cares
and needs of God's family, of God's church, are to be in precedence
over the cares and needs of our own families. Let me repeat that. I want it to sink in. The cares
and needs of God's family, of God's church, are to take precedence
over the cares and needs of our own families. Take precedence. Superior. More important. More needful.
You see, the house of God is forever. These families are just
temporary. Soon Cass, you're going to say
goodbye to her for the last time. And that union's ended. That's
ended. Shelby is my sister in Christ
forever. She's my wife for just a few
years. You got that? This spiritual relationship,
this bond union we have in Christ is indescribably superior and
indescribably more important than the physical relationship
that we have temporarily in this world. The church and family
of God is everlasting. Our earthly families are just
temporary. Our spiritual family is eternal. And that which is eternal is
more important than that which is temporal. Think about the
church of God, the family of God. Particularly, Think about
this local assembly which God has been pleased to raise up
in this place for your benefit and his glory. Paul's purpose
here in 1 Timothy is to instruct this young pastor Timothy and
us in the affairs of the church. He tells Timothy in this third
chapter how to honorably discharge his office as a preacher. a pastor,
an evangelist, a missionary, how to teach God's people the
things of God and how to behave himself in the house of God.
This third chapter deals specifically with a pastor's responsibilities
and his work in the ministry. He is teaching us how we are
to behave in the house of God as members of the family of God. And he's telling us what every
local church should be. Every local church is the house
of God, which is the church of the living God. You see that
there? The pillar and ground of the truth. The church of God
is a spiritual kingdom, a royal family, whose one purpose, one
design, one intent in this world. The church's one purpose, one
design, one intent in this world is to be a pillar upon which
stands before a darkened world the light of divine truth. That's it. That's it. What's the reason for your existence?
Why another church in the San Diego area? because there's need
in this land of darkness for the pillar upon which stands
the light of divine truth. There's no other purpose for
a local church. A local church is not a fellowship
center, it's not a family activity center, it's not a place where
you get together and have religious games and all the horse manure
that goes on in the name of religion in churches. A church is the
pillar and ground of God's truth. No other purpose, no other function. And in answering this question,
what is the church? What should the church be? I
want to make three strikes at it. First, I'll make a practical
observation that's needful. Then I want to explain Paul's
doctrine in this text. and then I'm going to issue a
challenge to you. First, let me draw this observation both
from the Word of God and from personal experience. I've been
pastoring now for a long time, 40 some years. I've observed this both in the
Word of God and in experience. As a pastor and a church member,
I need to learn and you need to learn and we need to remember
there never has been a perfect church on this earth and there
never will be. Make sure you understand that.
There's never been a perfect church on this earth and never
will be. I frequently see people jumping
from one church to another. It's not just peculiar to this
place, but so many people out in here, so much influenced by
campings, foolish predictions, and listen to radio, and they
meet a little group here, meet a little group there, meet a
little group everywhere, and they jump to this place and that and
play church. And it's just played church.
Spiritual welfare bums never committed anything. The Church
of God is never perfect in this world. And if you think that
you're going to find a perfect assembly, I have one good suggestion. Please stay away. Because you'll
ruin it. You see, in this world, wherever
our Lord sows the good seed of his wheat, Satan plants tares. Wherever the Lord Jesus gathers
his sheep, Satan herds goats. And they're always found together.
You find them always together. Read the 13th chapter of Matthew's
Gospel. Matthew tells us very plainly,
let the wheat and tares grow together. until the harvest time. And the Lord Jesus said at harvest
time he will send his angels who will gather together his
wheat into his gardener and will bind up the tares for the burning. He says leave them alone. Well,
we want to have a pure church. That's not going to happen. Well,
we want to exercise discipline. Well, when things happen that
require discipline, yes, take care of it. But there's not much
said in this book about discipline. Not much said in it. I recall
years ago, your brother called me one time. He was preparing
a message. He said, I want to preach on church discipline.
We talked for a little bit. And I said, Craig, You've asked
me about church discipline. Why don't you preach on something
the Bible has something to say about? And I know he was shocked, but I
meant to shock him. The intention was to make you
understand what you hear about stuff. This book says very little
about that. Discipline principally is done by the preaching of the
word. And our Savior, he sends out his angels in the end of
the age, that's where we're living right now. And his angels are
gospel preachers and they bind up the tares for the burning
by the word of the gospel that's preached. And that same gospel
gathers his wheat into his garner. The churches of the New Testament
If you look back at the scriptures, folks say, well, we want to get
back to New Testament Christianity. Thank God we've come a ways from
that. The church in Galatia was full
of legalists. The church at Corinth had horrible
problems with moral indecency, incest, people getting drunk
when they came to the Lord's table. The churches of the New
Testament, all of them had to deal with false prophets, false
doctrine, false religion. All of them had folks creeping,
unawares, sowing seeds of corruption, trying to turn men and women
away from the simplicity that's in Christ Jesus. Every local
church today will experience the same thing, will have the
same kind of troubles. And if the church in which you
are a part, this congregation here, is blessed of God with
doctrinal stability, unity of the spirit, brotherly love. God's given special, special
blessing. And he grants that blessing continued
through the preaching of the gospel. What a blessing. Oh, what a blessing to walk with
God's saints in the sweet harmony of faith in Christ Jesus the
Lord. in the sweet fellowship of God's
free grace in Jesus Christ. We've been together in Danville
now for 33 years. And we've had 33 years of blessedness. 33 years of continued delight. 33 years of prosperity and peace
by the blessing of God and God can do the same thing for you
and will indeed do the same thing for you as you walk before Him
in faith and obedience as His sons and daughters in this world
of corruption. But if Satan should disrupt the
church for a while don't be shocked and when trouble comes you rally
together, you don't forsake the assembly. There's something more
important than your personal feelings, your personal desires,
your personal wants. I'll give you an example from
personal history. I'd been in Danville for nine
years and we began to have someone causing some difficulty. And
one Tuesday night, I told the fellow running the tape machine,
I said, turn the recorder off, and I invited everybody to leave
who wasn't part of the congregation. I was going to talk to our family. And I said to them, we've had
nine years of blessed peace. God has blessed this assembly.
And we got some difficulty. Just one fellow got mad at me.
He was real mad at me. He sat back and made faces and
just ugly. Just ugly. But that's all right.
I ignored that. I'm pretty good at ignoring stuff
like that. That didn't bother me too much. And then it started
yacking, causing disruption in the congregation. That can't
be tolerated. That can't be tolerated. I said,
now you fellows know the difficulty. If I'm the cause, you tell me
now. And Shelby and I will vacate
the place tomorrow. Because what God's given us here
is more important than Don and Shelby Fortner. And more important
than you. More valuable than you. And more
valuable than me. If that's not the case, you fellas
take care of this. I'm going to have this again. It's all
going to happen again. And it hasn't happened yet. And
I'm thankful to God for the fact that he's preserved it. But when
difficulty comes, you rally together. You don't abandon the family.
Families have difficulties. I've seen time and again, you
can have a family, large or small, rebel sons and daughters, have
no regard for the family, but unless trouble comes, Man, they'll
get together. They'll lock arms, get through
the difficulty. And that's just for a temporal family. Lock arms
in the cause of our Redeemer. And let nothing divide you. Let
nothing separate you. Alright, here's the second thing.
I want to see what Paul says in this text about the church.
Look at the name he gives to the Church of God. He calls it
the Church of the Living God. What is a church, a local church? It's a congregation of believers,
men and women gathered in the name of Christ, by the power
and grace of God the Holy Spirit, to worship God, obey his will,
and promote his kingdom. Gathered by God's grace, by God's
Spirit, to worship God, to worship him in the spirit, to obey his
will, to build his kingdom. The church is a spiritual family. Not a denominational organization,
a spiritual family. The church belongs to God. Turn
over to Ephesians chapter 5. It's not our church, not my church,
not your church. It's the Lord's church. He chose
it. He bought it. He saved it. He owns it. Ephesians 5 verse
25. Husbands love your wives even
as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it that
he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious church,
not having spot, or reekle, or any such thing, but that it should
be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself. For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord
the church. For we are members of his body,
of his flesh. and of his bones. The church
is the church of the living God. It is the living body of Christ. The living body of Christ. A place down in Texas called
Corpus Christi. Spanish words for body of Christ. That's what we are. The living
body of Jesus Christ the Lord. Our head is Christ. We who are
his church are members of his body. Our relationship is the
relationship of a body to the head. All government is in the
head. And the very worst thing that
can happen to any local assembly is a decay of life. a decline in life. Spiritual
life depends on the Spirit of God. We've got to have more than
right doctrine. We've got to have doctrine right,
but you've got to have more than that. We've got to have more
than the right order of worship services. We've got to have more
than singing the right songs. We've got to have something more
than having all our I's dotted and all our T's crossed. We've
got to have the Spirit of God. We've got to have the Spirit
of God. Else our meetings are just beating
the air. Our meetings are just formality. Our meetings are of no spiritual
lasting benefit. A dead, useless, decaying body
is obnoxious. The sooner it's buried, the better.
The church is called the house of God. The house of God. John Gill suggests that term
means these three things. Bill said the church is a spiritual
house. It's built of living stones.
Men and women born of God. It is the built upon the sure
foundation, Christ himself. It's a house with one door of
entrance, which is Christ. With two windows, the ordinances
of the gospel, baptism and the Lord's Supper. And pillars in
the house are pastors and teachers, those men chosen and gifted and
called of God to preach the gospel. And 2nd Gil suggests the church
is a family. The family of God, the household
of faith. A family called by Christ's name.
In that family there are fathers and young men and children. In
that family there are aged men and strong young men and babies
in Christ. You're being terribly hard and
cruel and thoughtless if you expect the same thing from the
newborn babe as you do from the old age man. Or if you expect
the same thing from the young strong man as you do the man
of mature years. In the kingdom of God there are
fathers and young men and children. And we recognize that each needs
care in their own place. Need care not just from the pastor. but principally need care one
of another the old man needs the care of the little baby and
the little baby the care of the young man and the young man needs
both the old and the young all working together in the cause
of Christ we are living stones in the temple of God in building
the temple you know they didn't cut any stone to fit. They'd cut any stone to fit.
The stones were cut too large to fit in the place where the
stone was supposed to sit. And this is how they put them
together. They'd have a stone here, a stone here, and then
they'd just rub and rub and rub and
rub until the stone dropped into place. You see that's how God
fits us together. We need the rubbing effect we
have on one another to fit properly in the house of God. These are
not just stones, brick and mortar put together, living stones in
the house of God, the temple of the living God. he has in
his house servants, servants of God, stewards of the house
of God, stewards who are given the responsibility of the house
treasure and of the house. I often write to pastor friends
on Saturday night or Sunday morning in anticipation of their meeting
together and I say to them something like this, I'm praying for you
that God will be pleased to grant his special blessings on you
as you serve the souls he has trusted to your care. What a weight of responsibility.
The souls he loved and chose and redeemed. He's trusted in
my care. My care, not to be abused and
used by me, but served by me. And then third, Gil says the
church is the house of God. The house which he builds, for
which he provides, and he protects. The house in which he dwells.
Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians 3. There's one place on this earth,
only one, where God promises to meet sinners. Only one. Only one. Where two or three
are gathered together in my name, the Savior said, there am I in
the midst of them. Where two or three people come
together by the Spirit of God to worship God, believing His
Son for God's glory. Just two or three. Where two
or three not gathered together. Now, not where two or three decide
to meet. Where two or three are gathered together. Brought together
by God's Spirit. There am I in the midst of them. Now look here at 1 Corinthians
chapter 3. Let me show you what that means. Verse 16. Know ye not
that ye are the temple of God? ye are the temple of God and
that the spirit of God dwelleth in you. The spirit of each of
you is the temple of God and the spirit of God dwells in you
collectively in all of you as you come together as the house
of God. Sunday mornings I almost always
stand on the front porch of our church building as folks start
to come in. I'm usually there before anybody
else gets there and I'm not just there watching folks come to
greet them at the door. I'm there praying for them as
they come, asking that each might be gathered by God's Spirit and
that as he comes he may bring with him, she may bring with
her the Spirit of God into the house of God. See, when we come
together, when we're brought together by the Spirit of God
to worship God, something mystical happens. I can't explain it.
Mystical is the best word I can use. Something mystical happens. Unconsciously, we gather in the
name of Christ and God the Holy Spirit comes with us. You're
the temple of God. The Spirit of God dwells in you,
collectively, gathered in the name of Christ. Where two or
three are gathered together, there am I in the midst of them.
The local church is the place where God's worshipped, wherever
it is. It's the place of God's abode.
The place where God reveals himself in Christ. The place where God's
rule is obvious and the object of all the church is His honor,
His glory, the promotion of His kingdom, the interest of His
kingdom. The church, the church of the living God needs no priest.
Christ is our priest. We need no altars. Christ is
our altar. We need no rituals, none of the outward symbols of
religion, but only Christ himself. Are we the house of God? If so,
let us be reverent, obedient, grateful, worshiping, loving
people, honoring our Father in all things. Now, look back at
our text again. Paul says the church is the pillar
and ground of the truth. The pillar. The pillar is that
which upholds the truth. The ground, the ground is that
which is the undergirding, stabilizing force of truth. The church is
not the inventor of truth. The church is not the discoverer
of truth. The church is the pillar that
holds the truth. The church is the ground, the
undergirding that supports truth from one generation to the other.
So that the whole church, not just the pastor, not just the
teachers, not just deacons and elders, but the whole church,
every member of the church is the pillar and ground of truth.
The Church of the Living God is here, the place where the
truth is uplifted, where the truth is held out as a light
in the midst of darkness. And the one purpose we have as
a local church is to hold forth the truth of God just as we have
received it unto the generations yet to come. That's our responsibility. That's
our privilege. God's given us the light of the
gospel. You stop and think about that. You! You! Bob Miller, God's given
you the light of the gospel. He's given me the light of the
gospel. He's given this congregation
the light of the gospel in a world of darkness. that we might have
the privilege of carrying the light of the gospel to a sin-darkened
world and that we might hold forth the truth just as we've
received it under the generation to come. Truth is what we've
received from our forefathers by the Spirit of God through
His Word. Truth we must maintain. Now there
are other important causes in the world But in God's providence,
he raises up other people to take care of those other causes.
I know folks have a lot of political concerns. I do. I do. I don't much like the way politics
go. Never have. I don't like it when the conservatives
win, let alone when it's weird now. But members of political
parties, they'll raise money and they'll take care of their
political party. Church doesn't have any business there. Doctors
will build hospitals and take care of sick folks. Moralists
will struggle with moral issues and they'll take care of them.
Educators will build schools and educate. The business of
the church is truth. The business of the church is
the preaching of truth. The church of God is to be a
sounding board for the gospel. You have no reason for existence. No reason for existence as a
local church except to be a sounding board from which the gospel goes
out into this generation where God's given you opportunity and
privilege. All right, here's the third thing.
I have a challenge for you. Make it your business to maintain,
defend, and publish abroad the truth of God. the pillar and
ground of the truth. Any church which ceases to be
a pedestal of gospel truth ceases to be a church. Every believer
must be engaged in this work, engaged in this cause. The church
must not tolerate in her pulpit any man who is open to are opposed
or open to any heretical doctrine or in any way opposed to the
gospel of God's grace. The church cannot tolerate in
her pulpit any man who is indifferent to the truth of God. We must
tolerate no attack upon the gospel, no violation of divine truth,
no compromise of God's word. The Lord Jesus says seek Stand
ye in the ways and seek and ask for the old paths where is the
good way. Turn to 2 Timothy. Let me show
you specifically what I'm talking about. 2 Timothy. Paul is about to leave this world
and he knew it. And he's writing to Timothy,
his young son in the faith. And he's giving him his last
word of instruction. When I read this epistle, I try
to read it with this in mind. I know I'm going to die in a
few days. And I've got an opportunity now
to speak to my wife and daughter and son-in-law, my granddaughter
and my grandson. I've got an opportunity to speak
to them one more time. This is all. This is my last
word. Reckon what it would be. Reckon
what the instruction might be. That's going to be important
instruction. That's going to be important instruction. Paul
is giving what he knew would be his last word of inspiration
to his young son Timothy and to the Church of God. Look at
it in verse 8, 2 Timothy 1. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, the gospel of Christ, nor of
me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of
the gospel according to the power of God. Now he's going to tell
us what this gospel is. God hath saved us and called
us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to
his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. but is now made manifest by the
appearing of the great God and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. God has made this thing manifest
to us by the appearing of Christ through the preaching of the
gospel. Watch this. made this manifest by the appearing of
our Savior Jesus Christ who by his death at Calvary abolished
death and has brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel so that we preach the gospel we hold out the lights
of divine truth and as God blesses it Some sinner is made to look on
Christ and God brings to light in his
soul what he did for him before the world began. God brings to
light in his soul what Christ did for him at Calvary. God brings
to light in his soul the works finished for him from the foundation
of the world. And we carry the light. We continue
carrying the light without apology, without concern of what men say
or think, without concern about how men may react to it. We carry
the light because men are in darkness. And those who are in
darkness because they can't see, no need to get too upset with
them. They're blind. Who gets upset with blind men
because they can't see? Who gets upset with a blind man because
he can't see? You just carry the light. But we're carrying
light which does what no other light can do. We're carrying
light if blessed of God that causes the blind to see. If God shines in your heart by
the gospel, he gives the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Reckon what you would do. Reckon
what you'd do. Reckon what you'd do. You're
not very strong, I know that. You've got bad health, I know
that. Reckon what you would do. If you are thoroughly convinced,
if you are thoroughly convinced that by this one thing God is
going to let you be the instrument of his saving grace in the life
of one chosen redeemed sinner. If I had to lean on my bedpost
I'd shake it but leave it alone. Whatever, just, oh, what do you
reckon you'd give? What do you reckon you'd endure? What hardship, what sacrifice
would you not make? Oh, Brother Don, if I just knew,
or if I just knew that, there's nothing I wouldn't do. Nowhere
I wouldn't go. No sacrifice I wouldn't make.
Well, I'm here to tell you. No, I'm here simply to echo what
God tells you. So shall my word be, that goeth
forth out of my mouth, it shall accomplish the thing that I please.
and it shall prosper in the thing where to I sent it. My word shall
not return to me void. What is the church? She is the
pillar and ground of truth. The pillar and ground of the
light of the gospel of the glory of God in Christ Jesus the Lord. Amen.