The Church

Good morning, welcome to New Horizon. Please open your Bibles to 1 Timothy 3.

Dean’s Letter

Next week- Oscar preaching.

Began with the reality of the godhead.

Moved into the plan of salvation, particularly in the work of Jesus.

We now move to the response of a Christian. Upon knowing and understanding the works of Jesus, and placing faith in Him and what He has done, what happens next?

It is at this point that we turn our attention to the existence and work of the church, both universal and local.

Read 1 Timothy 3:14–15- “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.”

Pray.

Paul writing to Timothy in Ephesus.

Begins chapter three with noting qualifications for elders, or overseers, in the local church, before moving on to the qualifications for deacons.

Our text describes the reasons Paul gives for explaining such qualifications.

Makes even more sense when considering the threats against the church at Ephesus.

Main point to be drawn this morning- Paul puts definitions and boundaries around the church at Ephesus.

He defines what the church is and also describes what the church is to be doing.

So we ask the ever so important question this morning- What is the church and how is the church to live and behave?

Let’s begin with an important definition.

Ekklesia- translated here as church, but in the most basic sense, it means an assembly, or a gathering.

We recognize the church as a gathering of people to do something.

We don’t simply gather, we gather with purpose.

Into what is the church called to participate?

Inward/Outward.

1. The church participates in life.

The church of the living God.

Belong to the living God. Share in the life of the living God.

Creation- God is alive and gives life to that which has none.

This happens physically but it also happens spiritually.

The church of the ‘living’ God- not physical life, but spiritual life.

Inward.

Those who have life.

Acts 14:23- “And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”

Notice the defining mark at the end- They had life because they had believed in the Lord.

Remember the conversation with Nicodemus in John 3- whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

The church is made up of those who have eternal life.

This may challenge your notions of what the church is.

As much as we may view it as such, the church is not the gathering of all who attend, but instead all who attend with common life.

Those who seek life.

There is more to life than merely possession. We are called to grow, to seek deeper waters, if you will.

John 15:8–9- “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”

The Christian life is one in which we are to be constantly reminded and prodded further into the love of God.

We are prone to forget, to wander away, Jesus calls us back.

Aletheia learning to play the piano.

Those who are live such a life.

Romans 12:1- “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

We are called to be those who live for God. The gospel must be lived out. We not only trust Jesus, we live the very life of Jesus.

Outward.

Those who spread life.

Mark 5:18–20- “As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.”

Those who have experienced healing seek to heal. Those who have life seek every opportunity to give life.

Kids learning to blow a bubble with their gum.

If you have eternal life, look for opportunities to share and spread what you have come to know.

2. The church participates in truth.

A pillar and buttress of the truth.

Pillar or column, support- Foundational. The life of the church rests upon its knowledge of the Truth as it is stated in Scripture.

Taken one step further- The church is meant to represent truth to a world that is lost in ignorance.

Not meant as an insult in any way. Instead, I merely mean that we try to create our own truth.

We seek our own meaning, truth, our own purpose in the world and, when we honestly confront what we have created, we find it to be lacking.

Inward.

Those who know truth.

Psalm 25:5- “Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long.”

This is the prayer of those who find themselves in Christ- a knowledge of what is really true, truth coming from God.

The psalmist seeks to live in light of truth, for it to be the home base from which he operates the entirety of his life.

Those who live truth.

John 8:31–32- “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”

Important language here- the truth will call you from one life into another.

Illustrated in the Exodus.

We live as those with opened eyes.

Outward.

Those who spread truth.

1 Peter 2:9- “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

How is life spread? Through the spreading of truth.

We share truth, speaking it and living it, regardless of the success of it being received.

Parable of the soils. Sow the Word of God and trust God to work the soil.

3. The church participates in presence.

The household of God.

Notice the important language of household.

House, home, dwelling place, the place in which the family is gathered together.

A picture of the returning together around the dining room table, or in the living room, even when we may have been away for a while.

Inward.

We participate in the lives of one another.

We love each other, we invest in one another, we are patient with one another.

Think of how much love and affection and longsuffering family members have, or ought to have, for one another.

We see a mother desiring to care for her child, or a husband doing all he can for his wife, and we get a glimpse of what doesn’t naturally occur in the rest of the world around us.

These are the sort of relationships that are to be found in the context of the local church.

1 Timothy 5:1–2- “Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.”

We belong. Even when we think we don’t.

We aren’t defined by our understanding of an experience. We are defined by the Word of God.

Fight our own intuition.

Parenting in difficult circumstances. Punishing kids. Do they trust that you still love them?

Don’t create distance. Remove distance.

Outward.

Matthew 25:34–36- “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’”

More than giving someone the time of day. What defines those who are welcomed by the King is their welcome of others. Seeing needs and meeting needs.

Matthew 25 doesn’t envision a church that has secluded and separated itself, but rather a church who looks with interested and prodding eyes to see what needs surround her.

Living in the presence of Jesus and sharing the love of Jesus to a world that is desperately in need.

On a most basic level, this is who we are as a local church- We are those who participate in life, in truth and in presence.

And when this is accomplished, God uses the church to bring about change in the world, no matter how small.