Sermon Tone Analysis

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Prayer of Repentance and Adoration

Preaching of God’s Word (1 Tim 3:14-4:5)

Introduction

If you have your Bible, please turn it to 1 Timothy 3:14-4:5.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve spent some time talking about elders and deacons within the local church.

Paul’s reasoning for this is quite simple, he’s trying to remind Timothy of what the proper way for a church to function is; and part of the problem in Ephesus is the elders and deacons already in the church aren’t qualified to serve in those positions, so Paul emphasizes the need to choose biblically-qualified people for those roles.

We worked verse-by-verse through seven verses that were focused on the qualifications for elders, whom we commonly refer to as pastors today; and then we worked verse-by-verse through six verses focused on the qualifications for deacons.

And I emphasized that while the roles share many similar qualifications, there are some that differ because of the purpose of the roles themselves—elders lead the church and deacons serve the church, which means that elders have certain qualifications that deacons simply don’t have—like being able to teach and not being a recent convert.

When we worked through the deacon qualifications, Paul says a phrase that I mentioned might be a little confusing to understand, but I insisted that we not spend a ton of time last week studying that phrase because Paul was going to write a little bit more about it in this week’s section.

The phrase comes from 1 Timothy 3:9, “They must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.”

We briefly spoke about it, but I didn’t give many details about it.

This week, we’ll talk about it at length.

But first, let’s read 1 Timothy 3:14-4:5.

As we study this passage together, we’re going to look at the text in two parts: (1) The Mystery of Godliness (3:14-16) and (2) The Rejection of the Mystery (4:1-5).

I know we’re sort of straddling between two chapters, but let me remind you that the chapter divisions aren’t inspired—they’re there for our benefit and sometimes they don’t quite line up where the text divisions are and this is one of those cases.

In the first section of the text, we learn about Paul’s purpose in writing about elders, deacons, and prohibitions within Christian worship before telling us what he calls the mystery of Godliness.

In the second section, Paul warns that there will be some who seemingly have accepted the truth, who actually didn’t.

This evening, we’re going to discuss what exactly this mystery is that Paul refers to and we’ll look at some of the reasons why some people choose to reject the mystery in favor of other ideas.

Prayer for Illumination

The Mystery of Godliness (3:14-16)

Our text starts with Paul explaining why exactly he’s writing the things that he’s writing to Timothy.

You have to consider the fact that Timothy knew Paul very well and everything that Paul is writing to Timothy in his letters were probably already told to Timothy prior to this point.

Most scholars state that Timothy met Paul when he was a late teenager into his early 20s and of course, we know that 1 Timothy was written after Timothy first met Paul in the book of Acts—many estimates place the authorship about 16 years after their initial meeting.

While we don’t think that Timothy traveled with Paul this entire time, it’s clear that their relationship was one of mentorship—Paul mentored Timothy over the 16ish years between their initial meeting and Timothy pastoring the Ephesian people.

I think that in 16 years, Paul probably had told him how churches were supposed to function and how elders and deacons ought to be selected—especially since Timothy was a co-author of some of the New Testament letters with Paul.

Timothy is listed as a co-author for 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, and Philemon.

All that Paul is reminding Timothy of are things that Timothy probably already knows, but there’s something to be said about the reminder that Paul gives Timothy and I’ll explain a possible reason for Paul to have written this in a few minutes,

He writes in vv.

14-15, “I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.”

Paul intended to come and speak to Timothy directly, but remember, this is the first century and travel wasn’t as easy as it is now—it’s not as simple as jumping in your car and driving to the next location.

Depending on where Paul was, it could take days or even weeks for him to get to Timothy, which is precisely the reason why Paul writes this letter—what he’s saying is this, “just in case it takes me longer than usual for me to get there, here’s a letter.”

And in this letter, his focus is on “how one ought to behave in the household of God.”

Again, what do we do with false teachers?

You remove them.

What should we look for in elders who lead?

What do we look for in deacons who serve?

Paul writes all this so that Timothy has these instructions in writing, readily available for him.

Now, Paul calls the church three different things that emphasize the importance of Paul’s instructions to Timothy.

He calls the church the household of God, the church of the living God, and a pillar and buttress of the truth.

Each of these ideas have significance and they really highlight the importance of the church.

First, the church is God’s household—and Paul doesn’t mean this in a sentimental way.

When someone repents of their sins and believes in Jesus, they are adopted as fellow-heirs of Jesus Christ.

They become brothers and sisters in Christ.

God is the Father, believers are brothers and sisters.

Second, the household of God is the church of the living God—this gives us a reason for proper conduct within the church of God.

Why should the church be organized in this way—why should false teaching be removed?

Why should the leaders (the elders) be biblically qualified?

Why should the deacons (the servants) be biblically qualified?

Because the household of God isn’t about us, it’s all about God who is a living God—He is alive.

Maybe it would help to look at this a different way—believers are called the temple of the living God.

What was and is the purpose of the temple?

For God to dwell amongst His people.

Why should the church learn how they ought to behave?

Because God dwells amongst His people and when people are in the presence of God, there is a proper way to act and to behave.

Third, we’re told that the church is a pillar and buttress of the truth.

Now, some churches have taken this idea and ran it the wrong direction where they would make the claim that their church has just as much authority and accuracy as the Bible does, but that isn’t Paul’s point.

The idea at hand isn’t to exalt the institutional church, but rather to call the members of the local church to active proclamation and witness of the truth.

Or in other words, it is through the church when the church is acting properly as an entity that is filled with people in the presence of God, that the truth is proclaimed and supported and strengthened.

George Knight, the whole purpose of Paul’s statement here is “To remind the church that it is a structure called to uphold the truth of Christianity is also to remind it that it is a household called to manifest that truth in its conduct and to conform to it . . . in summary, Timothy and the church will conduct their lives appropriately if they remember that they are the home built and owned by God and indwelt by him as the living one, and also remember that they are called on to undergird and hold aloft God’s truth in word and deed.”

(George Knight, The Pastoral Epistles: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans, 1992) 181-182)

So, let’s return to the question that I mentioned earlier, why did Paul write this letter?

Because Timothy was a young pastor in an established church that was critical of Timothy because of his age and supposed lack of life experience.

Timothy was pastoring a church that was already disobedient to Scripture, which is why Paul spent the first part of the letter confronting false teaching, improper worship, and the need of biblically qualified elders and deacons.

Why did Paul write this letter?

Because the church itself was contentious and was refusing to listen, so Paul might be hoping that by getting a letter directly from an apostle confronting the church, that the church would actually listen, repent, and obey.

Thomas Lea and Hayne Griffin write this, “[Paul’s] writing was not due to his previous forgetfulness to mention these words to Timothy.

Nor was Timothy so incompetent that Paul jotted off this note to prevent him from acting carelessly.

The letter could serve as a confirmation of advice already given to Timothy on Paul’s departure earlier from Ephesus.

It would buttress Timothy’s authority before a testy congregation.

A critic of Timothy in Ephesus could argue that Timothy had misunderstood what Paul had directed him to do.

[But] no one could easily argue with a written word from the apostle.”

(Thomas D. Lea and Hayne P. Griffin, 1, 2 Timothy, Titus, The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992) 122)

Now, having ended v. 15 with an emphasis on this idea of truth, Paul then takes v. 16 to tell us what exactly the truth is, “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.”

What is this truth that we’re all confessing if we’re genuine believers?

It’s what Paul calls the “mystery of godliness.”

And let me remind you that despite our modern understanding of the word mystery, we aren’t talking about something that isn’t understood or beyond our understanding.

Last week, I mentioned that the cartoon Scooby Doo actually utilizes the definition of mystery that we’re looking for in this case—in Scooby Doo, in almost every episode, this mystery team of teenage kids and their dog investigate something unusual happening—and they go through the whole episode checking things out and trying to figure out what exactly is happening until eventually they reveal the culprit by taking his mask and costume off at the end of the episode.

What they do by revealing the culprit is literally what a mystery means—a mystery is something that formerly wasn’t known that has now been made known.

In the case of Scooby Doo, it’s whoever the villain is.

In the case of 1 Timothy 3, Paul tells us what this is—what was formerly not known but is now known, “He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.”

What Paul refers to as this mystery of godliness is seen in the life of Jesus Christ and he writes it in poem-form or what we might even consider to be an early hymn.

When Jesus was born, He was manifested in the flesh.

When Jesus was resurrected, He was vindicated by the Spirit.

“Seen by angels” was utilized in the New testament to speak of Jesus’ post-resurrection status.

Proclaimed among the nations and believed on in the world refer to the proclamation of the Gospel, which Jesus commanded.

And this poem or hymn ends with the fact that Jesus was taken up in glory.

Now, of course, this isn’t exhaustive of all Christian doctrine—it doesn’t mention creation and it doesn’t mention the Old Testament whatsoever, it also doesn’t mentioned Jesus’ eventual return, but it is an abbreviated Gospel proclamation.

And really, this is probably about the bare minimum that can be said about Jesus concerning the Gospel for you to get the point across.

Jesus was born of a virgin, He lived a perfect, sinless life, He died, was buried, and was resurrected, He reigns at the right hand of God, He’s proclaimed to all people, and He will return.

That is the mystery that Paul is referring to—it’s the Gospel.

The Gospel was once hidden but is now revealed.

This is why, throughout the Old Testament, the Gospel is seen only in pieces—we see the promised Messiah mentioned in Genesis 3 and periodically, we see reminders of this truth throughout the TaNaKh, but it isn’t until Matthew that we see the Gospel revealed in its entirety.

And it is the truth of the Gospel that is confessed in the household of God, the church of the living God, which is a pillar and buttress of truth; it is the Gospel that is the truth that is to be proclaimed and supported by the church—not politics, not philosophy, not psychology, or any other sort of worldview.

It’s all about Jesus and the Gospel.