A Purpose Driven Church

1 Timothy 3:14–15 AV

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.

1 Timothy 3:16 ESV

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.

1 Timothy 3:14-16

Introduction:

The Church has purpose, not the purpose of Rich Warren unscriptural book by the same title, but the Church has purpose.

John MacArthur Sermon Archive The Heart of the Church’s Mission and Message, Part 1

Now to introduce our thinking to the text, let me just suggest to you that those who have studied the Bible for many years are very much aware of the fact that the more you study the Scripture, the more overwhelmed you are with its vastness.

The Church is a vast institution that we must remind ourselves what God expects.

This is how much of Church goes today.

Here John MacArthur gives a little introduction and then we see how Church goes today.

Video of MacArthur and Steve Furtick.

We must get bak to the basics, people, of what God expects the Church to be.

He does not expect the Church to be a harbor where the unredeemed feel safe; I am sorry that is not the purpose of the Local NT Church.

The unredeemed should not feel comfortable in here, because a dead person should not be able to respond to what is going on.

Only those who have spiritual life should respond to what is going on.

That does not mean that we do not want people saved, because if they get saved it is because God has given them spiritual life.

But there is something massively wrong when the unredeemed can week after week, month after month, year after year feel comfortable at Church.

When that happens is because the Church has become a night club and not a Church.

We must get back to basics.

1 Timothy: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Chapter 12: Conduct in the Church

Vince Lombardi, the Hall of Fame coach of the Green Bay Packers football team, was notorious for his emphasis on fundamentals. His teams won championships because they could block, tackle, and execute better than anyone else. It is said that once, frustrated by his team’s poor performance, he held up a football and said, “Gentlemen, this is a football!”

Like Coach Lombardi, the apostle Paul knew well the importance of going back to the fundamentals. He penned this letter to Timothy because the church at Ephesus was starting to drift away from the basic truths of the Christian faith. Like the Ephesians, we need regularly to be reminded of the foundational truths of our faith. The church today sponsors a bewildering variety of highly specialized ministries, everything from race track evangelism to bowling leagues for blind bowlers. People can get lost in the superficial. Further, the Bible contains such an inexhaustible treasure of knowledge that some seem to become lost in its depths. It is all too easy for churches and believers to get so involved with peripheral matters or theological minutiae that they lose sight of the primary matters. Paul writes this passage as a reminder that the church must give its attention to the essential truths.

I. The Manner of the Church (vs. 14-15a)

1 Timothy 3:14–15a ESV

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.

It has been correctly stated that verses 14-15 introduce for us the purpose of the writing of this Epistle.

Paul says to Timothy that he is “writing these things”, just what are these things that Paul is referring?

Some have suggested that the things have to do with the qualifications of the leadership in the Church that he had just written concerning.

Others have suggested that Paul is referring to the roles of men and women that Paul spoke about in Chapter, or his teaching on false doctrine in Chapter 1.

However, since nothing in the context would suggest Paul focus on one particular area over another, we can correctly conclude that what Paul said was meant to be a general statement and to be interpreted in a broad sense; therefore, the “these things” could be righty interpreted to be the entire epistle.

Paul is clear in the first part of verse 14 that he is hoping (Present, Participle) to come see Timothy quickly, but he was not sure that he was going to make it as soon as he had hoped.

So he is writing this epistle so that “if I am delayed....”

Paul here uses what is called in Greek a third class conditional phrase.

A third class condition is a grammatical condition where the action of likely, but uncertain whether or not it will happen.

Paul is telling Timothy that I am hoping to come and see in a short time, but since it is uncertain whether or not I will be able to come, I am writing these things to you now.

What is definitely clear from what Paul is saying is that he was not going to be able to come as soon as he had hoped and perhaps not at all (the point of the third class condition), so I am writing just in case.

It is not known whether or not Paul ever returned to Ephesus.

What we do know is that in his epistle to Titus, probably written about the same time as 1 Timothy, he expressed his intent to spend the winter in Nicopolis.

Nicopolis was west of Macedonia, Ephesus is east; in fact, Nicopolis is 366 miles west of Ephesus.

Show Map of Nicopolis and Ephesus

And the purpose of Paul’s writing and what he wanted to Timothy to know even if he did not make it there, was how they were to conduct themselves in the house of God.

The word “know” there is “οἶδα” and, of course, means a possession of knowledge.

But I also want to bring to your attention that this verb is also a Perfect Tense Verb; meaning that the action of the verb “know” is a condition that was completed in the past but has results into the present time and in this part of speech the emphasis is on the present reality more so than the past completion.

In other words, Paul is telling Timothy “you have heard all this before, but I want to make sure that the things that I have taught you before are a present reality in your life and ministry.

And notice what he wanted him to be reminded.

1 Timothy 3:15 AV

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.

“Behave” is “ἀναστρέφω” and means “to behave or conduct yourself or live” and comes from the Greek root word “στρεφω” which means “to turn around”.

As believers, there is literally a turn around in how we live and conduct ourselves, and especially in the context of this verse, there is a noticeably different way in which we behave ourselves in the house of God.

And the way that believers conduct themselves in the house of God should be a consistent patter of life.

There is a “code pf conduct” in the house of God or Paul would not have said this the way he did.

I am writing these things, Timothy, so whether I am able to come to you or not, I remind of how you should conduct yourself in the House of God.

“

“ἐν οἴκῳ θεοῦ” the home of God.

The building is not the Church, God’s people are the Church, the Bride of Christ.

However, we also need to understand that as the people of God meet, the household of God is joining together and there is a proper conduct in the Church.

1 Timothy Order in the House

“There are good reasons why God should call the Church His House,” writes Calvin, “for not only has He received us as His sons by the grace of adoption, but He Himself dwells in the midst of us.”2

Paul further elaborates on God’s household being the people He has chosen.

Ephesians 2:19–22 ESV

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

And, again, the point that Paul is making here is that when the Household of God assembles, there is a way in which you are to behave yourself.

Now, he does not go into detail here; however, he already has given some indication.

When the Church meets, there are certain ways doctrinally that they are to conduct themselves; according to Chapter 1.

When the Church meets, there are certain differing roles of men and women that the Church needs to adhere to; according to Chapter 2.

When the Church meets, there are certain criteria for her leaders that needs to be adhered to; according to Chapter 3:1-13.

And he will talk more about that behavior as the chapters unfold.

Now, in chapter 4, he speaks on the Churches conduct when it comes to false teachers.

Now, none of the instructions that have been given by the Apostle Paul to Timothy have anything to do with this kind of behavior.

Show videos of wrong Church Behavior.

Proper conduct when the Church meets has to do with with proper Doctrine, correct roles of men and women, godly leaders and watching out for false prophets and false teaching.

None of the things that the Scriptures teach about conduct have anything to do with the “Holy Ghost Hokey Pokey” or jumping up and down running around the building; such are grossly unbiblical and heretical at best and terribly distracting at the least.

So, there must be a proper conduct as the Church, when the Church assemblies.

And I would add that this conduct is not only for when the Church assembles, but it is for all time because we are always the Church.

So, there is the Manner of the Church

II. The Master of the Church (vs. 15b)

1 Timothy 3:15 AV

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.

It may seem basic for us to think that the Church is the institution of God.

In no sense is the Church a human institution.

It is God’s Church and it is God’s family.

Many of today’s “spokesmen” would do well to remember that.

Video of Crowder- Drunken Glory

Video of Steven Anderson

The Church belongs to God.

The absence of the definite article “the” stresses the character of the Church, “Living God’s Church”.

The Church by its very nature belongs to the living God.

In fact, Paul told the Ephesian elders at the gathering at Miletus that the Church was truly his because:

Acts 20:28 ESV

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.

1 Peter 2:9 ESV

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.

And while is may seem basic to us to believe and understand that the Church belongs to the Living God, it is something that people need to be reminded.

And since the Church belongs to the Living God, He is also the head of that Church.

It was John Owen that said:

Works of John Owen: Volume 14 Chapter XV: Pleas of Prelate Protestants

Christ the only supreme and absolute head of the church

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, Vol. XIV The Head of the Church (No. 839)

Time creates no separation, the church is always one—one church of the apostles, one church of the reformers, one church of the first century, one church of the latter days, and of this one only church Jesus Christ is the one only Head.

Institutes of the Christian Religion Chapter XV: The Consideration of Christ’s Three Offices, Prophetical, Regal, and Sacerdotal, Necessary to Our Knowing the End of His Mission from the Father, and the Benefits Which He Confers on Us

Thus Paul rightly concludes, that God alone will then be the only head of the Church

How does a Church mask their attempt to take away Christs’ authority and headship over the Church.

This happens in a number of ways.

The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception Usurping the Church’s True Head

“Seeker-sensitive” methodologies. As churches have tailored their Sunday services to suit the tastes of “seekers,” for example, there is less and less emphasis on edifying the saints and more and more stress on entertaining unbelievers. Drama, music, comedy, and even forms of vaudeville have often replaced preaching in the order of service.

The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception Usurping the Church’s True Head

That strips Christ of His headship over the church by removing His Word from its rightful place and thereby silencing His rule in the life of His people. In effect, it surrenders the headship of the church to unchurched seekers.

The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception Usurping the Church’s True Head

No-lordship theology. In previous books, I have critiqued a popular system of theology that argues that every reference to the lordship of Christ should be omitted from the gospel message.2 According to this view, surrender to Christ’s lordship is an optional matter, relevant only after someone has been a Christian for some time. The gospel is therefore reduced to an invitation to believe in Jesus as Savior, while carefully omitting any reference to His authority as Lord. Gone from the message are Christ’s call to discipleship, all His hard demands about cross-bearing and self-denial (Matthew 16:24; Mark 10:21; et al.), and His admonition to count the cost of following Him (Luke 14:26–33). The no-lordship “gospel” meticulously avoids calling sinners to repentance too.

The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception Usurping the Church’s True Head

Accommodations to political correctness. Evangelicals willing to bend biblical truth to make Christianity seem more politically correct are in effect denying Christ as the true Head of the church. For example, Scripture expressly forbids women to teach men or have authority over them in the church (1 Timothy 2:12). Many evangelicals have chosen to ignore that principle or tried desperately to explain it away. Some even go so far as to write it off as an uninspired, misogynistic expression of the apostle Paul’s personal opinion.

These kinds of attitude about which God has clearly spoken is an attempt to strip away he Churches head, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Pillars of Grace (AD 100–1564) Doctrine in Focus: Divine Sovereignty

Neither is the pope the head nor are the cardinals the whole body of the holy, universal, catholic church. For Christ alone is the head of the church

Matthew 21:42 ESV

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Ephesians 5:23 ESV

For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.

Colossians 1:18 ESV

And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

1 Corinthians 11:3 ESV

But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.

The Church is the possession of the Living God and since He is the Master and Head, we do things His way.

The Manner of the Church, the Master of the Church.

Next Lords Day we will conclude this chapter by looking at The Mission of the Church and the Message of the Church.