The Mystery of the Faith 1Timothy 3:14-4:5

-The Gospel reveals God’s redemptive plan for humanity.

William Phelps taught English literature at Yale for forty-one years until his retirement in 1933. Marking an examination paper shortly before Christmas one year, Phelps came across the note: "God only knows the answer to this question. Merry Christmas." Phelps returned the paper with this note: "God gets an A. You get an F. Happy New Year." 

The Mystery of the Faith is…

I. Displayed by the Church vv. 14-15

In our passage, Paul gives Timothy his reasons for writing

He has a greater desire, to come to Ephesus and be present to the church to pour into the lives of God’s people and address the situation on the ground

Instead, he must write because the need is critical

Timothy and his church must understand how one ought to conduct themselves!

Why does our conduct matter?

First, we see that our conduct matters because we are the household of God

What does Paul mean by the “household” of God

The image here is of a family, all of the folks under a roof together

We are God’s family and our behavior is a reflection of His character

Second, we see that our conduct matters because we are a pillar and buttress of the truth

This image may seem a little vague to us, but it’s pretty straightforward

The church is given the responsibility of holding the truth up so that the world may see it

Our actions and our teaching go hand-in-hand; it is impossible for us to stand on truth if we do not live according to the truth; rank hypocrisy amongst the people of God is an enemy of the Gospel

Paul considered himself Christ's ambassador. What is an ambassador? He is an authorized representative of a sovereign. He speaks not in his own name but on behalf of the ruler whose deputy he is, and his whole duty and responsibility is to interpret that ruler's mind faithfully to those to whom he is sent.

-JI Packer in Your Father Loves You

2 Corinthians 5:20

[20] Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (ESV)

II. The Gospel of Jesus v. 16

This reflection on the truth leads Paul to a little bit of worship:

As God’s people, we stand united in a confession of faith in Jesus Christ

Paul calls this the “mystery of godliness”, but what does He mean by that?

To this point, there has been a great problem: God and Man have been separated by sin since the beginnings of creation, after Adam’s disobedience

Throughout the Old Testament, we saw God work for His people in all sorts of ways:

Covenant

Exodus

Law

Priests

Prophets

Judges

Kings

Temples

Exile

Unfortunately, none of those could resolve the problem!

Now, the mystery of God’s perfect resolution to the problem of sin has been revealed, and the answer to the mystery is Jesus!

He was incarnated in the flesh and experienced death and burial

He was vindicated by the Spirit in the Resurrection

He was attested by angels

He is proclaimed among the nations

He is believed on in the world

He is taken up in glory until His ultimate return

If you want to know the answer, you have to look to Jesus, because He is the only one who can restore you to the Father

John 14:6

[6] Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (ESV)

III. Worth Protecting vv. 1-5

Finally, we see that this Gospel is worth protecting

Paul issues a warning against people who depart from the faith; they have left faithful teaching of the truth behind

First, he assures us that it will happen. The Spirit reminds us so that we will not be surprised when people depart from the Gospel

Second, he reminds us of the two-fold origin of this false teaching:

It is the product of deceitful spirits and demons. They would gladly have us depart from the Gospel of grace through faith in Jesus to embrace some other teaching

It is proclaimed by insincere liars whose consciences are seared. I don’t think we need to miss this statement!

The greatest teachers of false doctrine are liars. They do not live up to their own teaching nor particularly believe it themselves.

Their consciences have been burned in such a way that they cannot feel conviction anymore; there is a spiritual dullness present in them

Third, he shows us the content of their teaching:

This may come as something of a shock to us. When we think of false teaching, we most probably will think of lawlessness or liberality

Instead, the attack in Ephesus is coming from legalism, a kind of conservatism!

They insist on a standard that God does not expect, attempting to be holier than He is!

They take what God has said was good, like the sharing of all sorts of food and marriage

They insist that real righteousness is found in adherence to their rules rather than to God’s Word

The Lord had already made clear through Jesus and to Peter that all food was clean to eat

The Lord created marriage between a man and woman and blessed it!

How do we respond to this?

We have to hang on to the glorious gospel of God through Jesus Christ

We remember His goodness; everything He created was good and we do not have to live in fear of what He created

We receive His gifts with thanksgiving as His gifts

We rest in His redemptive work through the reading of Scripture and prayer

Am I living according to His Word or the words of others?

Am I connected to Him in prayer and seeking the wisdom of His Spirit?

Many years ago, I was on a youth trip that involved a brand new charter bus driver. It was her first ever trip driving after spending several years driving a dump truck. It was an experience! One of our first days of the trip, we attended worship service at the largest church in South Carolina. All was going well until our driver misjudged the entrance and got the bus stuck, blocking half of the highway and the major entrance to the sanctuary. Later on, at the end of the week, we were going to celebrate all of our hard work with a stop in Atlanta for a day at Six Flags. Everything was going along pretty well until I looked up and paid attention to the signs on the interstate: Asheville 30 miles. We’d been on the wrong interstate going the wrong direction the entire time. Why? Because we trusted the wrong person. Sometimes, the wrong person you are trusting is a false teacher, but sometimes the wrong person is yourself!

-How do you need to respond?

-Do you need to conduct yourself like a Christian?

-Do you need to believe the Gospel?

-Do you need to turn from legalism to the light?