Sermon Tone Analysis

I have given my life to the church.

I have spent nearly every Sunday of my 36+ years gathering with the church and much more time besides: Monday evening meetings, Wednesday Night Youth Groups and Bible Studies, Thursday small groups, Saturday service projects, revivals, classes, seminars, conferences.

I haven’t done the math (and can’t imagine how to begin calculating it), but I’ve probably spent more time with the church than anything else, save sleeping.

I’ve given my life to the church.

The Church is, easily, one of my favorite topics.

I’ve written on it, spoken about it, preached about it, taught classes about it.

Ecclesiology is my very favorite -ology; it’s the study of the Church.

I love the Church—the global church and the local church.

This is not to say that the church hasn’t hurt me or disappointed me or angered me; it has done all of those, with some regularity.

I do not view the church through rose-colored glasses.

I see the church for what it is.

And still, for all its failures and shortcomings, its ugliness and sinfulness, I love the church.

I know many reasons—both spoken and unspoken—people avoid the church.

For some, it’s the hypocrisy.

For others, something happened, something was done or not done, said or not said, and that’s that.

It was 2.3; now, it’s 1.8.

I imagine this number will get smaller and smaller on average.

Just a couple years ago, the average Christian attended a worship gathering 2.3 Sundays/month.

A more recent study says the number is down to 1.8 Sundays/month.

There are many reasons people/Christians avoid the church.

Rarely will you find a person who has only ever had good experiences with the church; that’s a lot of the reasoning.

Factor in overall busyness and scheduling conflicts, I’m surprised we make it to church as often as we do.

For some professing Christians today, the church appears to be irrelevant or optional.

Why even bother?

Why not just stay home in your pajamas and watch your favorite preacher online or on TV—church in the comfort of your own home!

Sweet.

Better yet, skip the preaching altogether and cue up Netflix or Hulu or something on Amazon Video with their virtual bevy of viewing options.

The Church isn’t what it should be.

And yet, our experience with the church doesn’t negate what it is.

The Church is founded by Christ (Matthew 16:18-19).

Christ loves the Church and gave Himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25).

Christ identifies intimately with the Church (Acts 9:4-5).

Christ calls the Church His own bride and His Body (John 3:29; Ephesians 5:30).

That’s what’s true of the Church—each of those, gloriously and unchangingly true.

To add to these, in our text this morning Paul speaks to the high value God places on the Church.

We, the people of God, get to gather together with one another and worship the Lord.

We are His people and we have the great honor of bearing His name and proclaiming His word.

Let us never forget!

>If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to 1 Timothy 3.

And if you are able and willing, please stand for the reading of God’s Holy Word—the reading of this glorious passage focused on Christ and His Church:

May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!

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These verses are the theme verses of the entire letter; the central verses giving us crucial reminders.

Paul tells us explicitly the reason he’s writing, and he reminds us of the Church’s significance and of Christ’s supremacy.

The Church's Significance

Far from the perception of the church at this point in time and in this particular cultural moment is what God has to say about His Church.

What God’s Word says about the Church—the Body and Bride of Christ—matters infinitely more than what the world says about it.

What God says matters more than how we feel; what He says regarding His Church matters far more than our experiences.

We need to think about the Church in these terms.

We need to think about the Church as the Bible would urge us, as Christ would have us.

Verse 15 gives us a few descriptors of the Church and its significance.

We are God’s Family

Paul’s giving instructions for how God’s people ought to behave in God’s household.

God’s people, God’s household.

Did you catch that?

The Church is His household, His family unit, His children (adopted in Christ).

If we—His people, when gathered—make up the Church, we need to think about ourselves as His own household.

My household includes one wife, three sons, and a daughter.

With the exception of our ridiculous dachshund who does absolutely nothing I say, my household listens to me (mostly) and abides by my wishes (within reason).

They follow my lead (most of the time).

I’m a little extreme in a few areas and quite obsessive in others, so the analogy breaks down at several points.

For argument’s sake, let us say that since it is my household, the members of my household conduct themselves accordingly, according to my rules.

The kids know to shut the door behind them (“Were you born in a barn?), they know how to behave at the dinner table (elbows off, no smacking, chew with your mouth closed), they understand the bedtime routine (brush your teeth, brush them again, go to sleep), they know they’re supposed to treat their mother in a certain way (with kindness, respect, love, and plenty of hugs).

And those are just a few of our “one hundred rules”, according to Patience.

As God’s household, Paul’s letting us know we are to operate under God’s rules and God’s direction.

This first letter to Timothy should encourage us as the children of God to come before our Heavenly Father and ask, “How should we behave?

What do YOU want us to do?”

This thought stops me dead in my tracks.

If we are part of His household, we need to behave in a certain way.

And we should be concerned, most concerned with what He wants us to do.

Not so much with what we want to do, but what the Lord Almighty wants us to do—how we conduct ourselves here, our manner of operating.

After all, we are His family.

His family.

His.

The Church is significant, this church is significant; it’s not “just church”; it’s God’s household, God’s family.

We are God’s Dwelling Place

We are, according to verse 15, the church of the living God.

This, opposed to the church of some inanimate, ineffectual idol or of some person who lived for a while and died and stayed dead.

We are not the church of Joseph Smith or of a Buddha or any other mere mortal who lived for a bit and died (they’re all really dead, like super dead).

We are the church of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who lived, who died, who conquered death, who rose from the dead, who ascended to heaven, and who sits at God’s mighty right hand.

We are the church of the living God.

In the book of Genesis, when Jacob encountered the living God, he took the stone he had used as a pillow for his head and set it up as a pillar to God.

He poured oil on top of it and called that place Bethel even though the city used to be called Luz.

He called it “Bethel” which means “the house of God.”

The place where the living God is—that’s the house of God, the dwelling place of His presence.

When the Israelites built the tabernacle, the Lord said:

The same thing was said of the temple Solomon built:

God chose to dwell with His people.

When we turn the page from the OT to the NT, a change takes place.

There is no special city, no tabernacle, no building where God dwells.

Instead, God now dwells with His people.

We—church—are the dwelling place for the living God.

The Church, the corporate body of Christ-followers, is the place where God lives and dwells and manifests His presence.

Consider how significant this makes our weekly gatherings: the church gathers and the Lord, the living God, is among us.

We are His household, worshipping in His presence, listening to His Word, eating at His table.

How awesome the privilege.

It's not “just church”—it's the church of the living God.

We are the Guardians of God’s Word

This is what Paul meant when he says we are the pillar and foundation of the truth—we are guardians of His Word.

One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Temple of Diana, was in Ephesus—the very town in which Timothy was pastoring.

The temple had a massive, shining marble roof held high with more than one hundred columns all around it, each column measuring over 18 meters high.