Without Controversy

Welcome

Teaching

We’re starting a new series of teaching this morning. But before we start, I want to talk about teaching for a moment…

Preaching is the anointed DECLARATION of truth. Teaching is the anointed EXPLANATION of truth. They are two sides of the same coin; they are not in competition with each other, they compliment each other.

Preaching is the REACH of the church. Teaching is the STRENGTH of the church. Preaching is focused on EVANGELISM and DIRECTION, while teaching is focused on EDIFICATION and DISCIPLESHIP.

We need teaching, too!

New Series

“Standing in Faith”

Our world is in a place where there is a deeper and deeper need for people who are strong in what they know about their God and are willing to stand on rock-solid truth.

We are going to talk about the truth of the word of God. Jesus. Salvation. Prophecy. Being used of God.

Text

1 Timothy 3:14–16 NKJV

14 These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; 15 but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. 16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.

Intro

Knee Deep in Silver Dollars

One of the most common ways to decide on something is to flip a coin. If you flip a coin, you have a fifty percent chance of guessing whether it will be heads or tails. If you play rock paper scissors, you have a thirty-three percent chance of guessing the right response. If you guess a number between one and one hundred, you have a one percent chance of guessing the right number.

But let’s make it even more difficult to guess the right answer… Cover the state of Texas knee deep in silver dollars - some 250,000+ miles worth. And mark one of those silver dollars with a Sharpie and ask a blindfolded man or woman to find the marked silver dollar on the first try. And the possibility of that happening lives just outside the gated neighborhood of impossible.

According to Peter Stoner - retired chairman of mathematics and astronomy at Pasadena City College - that outcome would be the probability of Jesus fulfilling just eight Old Testament prophecies about Himself by chance (a probability of one in one hundred quadrillion - that’s the number one with seventeen zeroes to follow).

The prophets predicted Jesus would be born of a virgin, in Bethlehem, from the line of Abraham, and from the tribe of Judah. He would be called Immanuel, spend a season in Egypt, and follow a forerunner. Over two hundred more prophecies predicted His incarnation, birth, life, death, and resurrection.

If Jesus was just a man, those prophecies would have fallen unfulfilled. But He was not just a man; He was God in flesh. And He was on the throne, even when He was in the manger, on the cross, or in the tomb.

Contemplating the Topic

There’s a sort of political saying that’s used a lot to promote candidates: “PROMISES KEPT.”

President Lyndon B. Johnson promised American citizens in 1964, “We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.” The following year, President Johnson approved the deployment of American troops into Vietnam… he had broken his promise.

In the election of 1968, President Johnson decided not to run for reelection. The new president, Richard Nixon, ran on the campaign promise to stop sending troops to Vietnam. Nixon said he had a “secret plan to end the war.” In December of 1969, roughly eleven months after taking office, Nixon initiated the first draft lottery since WWII. Nixon had broken his promise, as well.

In April 1975, the last American troops evacuated Vietnam following the fall of Saigon. Broken promises had left scars on the hearts of the American people.

In contrast, today we are going to discuss some promises that are sure and steadfast regarding Jesus Christ and His church… these things are without controversy!

God cannot lie!

Searching The Scriptures

The New Testament Thanks the Old

You don’t have to look far to notice how indebted the New Testament is to the Old Testament.

The New Testament references the Old Testament quite often to show fulfilled prophecies of the Messiah. What promises God ever made in the Old Testament, are sure to be found fulfilled in the New!

Because, unlike the U.S. presidents I mentioned awhile ago, our God is a promise keeper! The New Testament presents these promises to us as a testimony about how faithful our God is.

The Mystery of Godliness

A Different Kind of Mystery

1 Timothy 3:16 NKJV

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.

When Paul uses this word mystery, it’s not meant like the use of our word mystery. To be precise, he’s using the Greek word musterion.

For many of us, a mystery is referring to something that can’t be known or understood. For someone who is curious, a mystery may be something that currently isn’t known that they are working to discover. Examples are:

The fact that there are many diseases that we don’t have a cure for, but we are currently doing much research and pouring much money into finding the cure.

No one has ever been able to live their life outside of the earth, but much money and time is being spent preparing for what will be purchasable places on ships that will allow you to go into space and live. (SpaceX)

These are things that are mysteries that we are working on.

But Paul doesn’t use mystery in these ways. In fact, he actually spoils the mystery! When Paul said, “Great is the mystery of godliness,” it’s almost like him saying, “Spoiler alert! I’m going to tell you the mystery of godliness!”

And in 1 Timothy 3:16, Paul revealed just exactly what the mystery was. But he wasn’t revealing something new in Scripture. What paul revealed in 1 Timothy 3:16 was already contained in the Old Testament.

Old Testament Prophets Predicted the Incarnation

In Isaiah 7:14, you remember Isaiah declared that a virgin would conceive and bear a son. Matthew connected this prophecy to Jesus’ birth in Matthew 1:18-25, where it’s written that Mary - Jesus’ virgin mother - gave birth to the Son of God. But also, in Isaiah 8, it appears that Isaiah saw the birth of a child by his prophetess wife as a sign that God was with them.

So this begs the question: which child was the promised child? The child in Isaiah 8, or the child of Matthew 1?

The answer is BOTH!

This is an example of a double fulfillment. That’s a point where a prophecy is fulfilled twice. Usually, the first fulfillment refers to the immediate context (Isaiah’s son) and the second to a greater and usually messianic fulfillment (the birth of Jesus).

Messiah Was Revealed in the New Testament

Isaiah gave another important prophecy in Isaiah 9:6. This verse is an important part of our Christmas celebrations every year.

But it’s importance is beyond just celebration material… the scripture is telling us that the child couldn’t be the one Isaiah is having, because this child born must also be a son that is given. Jesus is the Son of God, who literally gave Himself to the world as a payment for the price of sin.

And then, the prophetic titles that Isaiah started giving could not be titles for Isaiah’s son…

Isaiah 9:6 NKJV

For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

I’m going to read to you fulfillment of these names in the New Testament. And I want you to let the word of God speak to you for a minute, because these scriptures are powerful!

Where it says “His name will be called Wonderful,” the name of Jesus truly is wonderful…

Philippians 2:9–11 NKJV

Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

He is the counselor in the Spirit…

John 14:26–28 NKJV

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. You have heard Me say to you, ‘I am going away and coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, ‘I am going to the Father,’ for My Father is greater than I.

He would also be the mighty God who possesses all the power and authority of God…

Matthew 28:18 NKJV

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.

And this child would also be the everlasting Father…

John 10:30 NKJV

I and My Father are one.”

And lastly, this child and son would be called the Prince of Peace, meaning that His rule and leadership would be known for peace, instead of war.

Jesus’ Identity Was Without Controversy in the Early Church

Now, what the Bible says about the Godhead, although complex, can be said pretty simply...

And that is that the one God of the Old Testament was made flesh in the person of Jesus Christ.

John 1:14 NKJV

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Following Jesus’ ministry and resurrection, He ascended into Heaven to later return as the Spirit that would enter into the hearts of those who would believe for it.

John 16:7 NKJV

Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.

In this verse in 1 Timothy 3:16 we’re studying, it appears that Paul is quoting an early Christian hymnal. It’s pretty interesting and it’s widely believed. Sort of imagine this as a song…

1 Timothy 3:16 NKJV

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.

So check this out: since Paul is quoting an early hymnal, this not only represents what he believed, but also what the early church believed.

They Holy Ghost inspired Paul to include this song to show that there was no controversy or question regarding who Jesus was!

And we have to continue to celebrate who Jesus is TODAY!

There are some things that are WITHOUT CONTROVERSY.

This truth should come out in our SINGING. It should come out in our PREACHING, our TEACHING! It should come out in our WORSHIP, our CONVERSATIONS!

If it came out in a letter Paul wrote and a song he sang, THEN TRUTH HAS TO COME OUT OF ME!!!

And it strikes me at the things that are being celebrated and expressed out of people today: pride, unrighteousness, evil, lust…

If they are going to celebrate those things, then we need to look at how we can celebrate Jesus’s identity in our church, in our community, on social media, and the world at large!

It is time to push back on the darkness of this world!

Jesus Was God Manifest In Flesh

The First Heresy

The first breaking away from truth in the church was something called gnosticism. The gnostics believed that Jesus didn’t physically rise again, but rather that He only spiritually rose again. They believed that all flesh was evil, and therefore Jesus simply couldn’t be God because God wouldn’t be in an evil corrupt body.

They literally came against the idea that Jesus was God manifest in the flesh.

But New Testament writers began writing showing that they believed it strongly.

John made this revelation clear in his Gospel by telling of how Thomas had touched the scars of the risen Jesus (John 20:24-29) and that Jesus at with the disciples (John 21:10-15).

And then, of course, the hymn in our text makes it very clear what Paul believed.

Justified in the Spirit

Let’s read the verse again…

1 Timothy 3:16 NKJV

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.

The word justified in the Bible usually hold the meaning of being declared as right. Some translations will use the word vindicated. For someone to be vindicated would mean that they are cleared from blame or suspicion.

All of this is connected to Atonement. And to understand Atonement, you have to know about two things (or ideas) involved with Atonement: justice and mercy.

Paul talked about Atonement in Romans 3:21-26. In verse 25, Paul wrote that God had set Jesus “to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.”

In other words, Jesus died for the sins of humanity to demonstrate that God is just and punishes sin. And God placed humanity’s punishment on Himself.

Finally, Paul declared in verse 26 that God did this “to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”

So due to what Christ did, God is justified in the spirit. And He declares justice on sin, while also offering mercy and justifying, or declaring righteous, those who believe in Jesus.

Seen of Angels

Our text also says that he was “seen of angels.” And there were key moments in Jesus’ life and ministry that were supervised by angels.

The angel Gabriel announced the birth of Christ to Mary (Luke 1:30-33).

The angelic host praised God as a result of Jesus’ birth (Luke 2:13-14).

Before Herod could carry out his plan to kill infant babies, an angel warned Joseph to take his family to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-20).

After Jesus fasted in the desert for forty days and was tempted by Satan, angels appeared to Jesus and ministered to Him (Matthew 4:11).

While Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane shortly before His capture, an angel was present to give Him strength (Luke 22:43).

An angel rolled the stone away from Jesus’ tomb and announced Jesus’ resurrection to the two Marys (Matthew 28:1-2, 5-6).

Finally, when Jesus ascended into Heaven, two angels were witness to His ascension (Acts 1:10).

It appears that all of these angelic visitations were a sign of validation for Jesus’ life and ministry. Since angels always represent and carry out God’s plan, then the angelic happenings in Jesus’ ministry show that Jesus’ ministry and God’s will are one and the same!

Those angels knew who Jesus really was! And they validated His identity!

Preached Unto the Gentiles

The scripture also says that Jesus was “preached.”

1 Timothy 3:16 NKJV

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.

What this is talking about is what kind of preaching there was in the early Apostolic church. It was Jesus-centered.

We should be very thankful today that we have our own personal copy of the Bible. Because early Christians were not afforded such luxuries. For the early Christians, what would be known as the New Testament was inaccessible and incomplete for them. And although it seems likely that they had memorized much of the Old Testament, they mostly did not have their own copies of Old Testament books.

And so the content of their preaching was pretty much all the message of Jesus!

And for early Christians, the experience of hearing the gospel preached and then responding in obedience was something that was fundamental and a reality of being a Christian. In their mind, “If I’m going to be a Christian, I’m going to respond!” We need to let that spirit get on us!

Back then, there were certain people who believed that the new converts should first be circumcised, that is, to become a Jew, before becoming a Christian (Acts 15:1). And the Jerusalem Council determined that Gentile Christianity was authentic without any Judaism being present in their life.

In other words, it was simply their faith in the message of Jesus was what made their Christian faith legitimate instead of circumcision.

Believed On in the World

Not only was Jesus preached to the Gentiles… the scripture also says that He was believed on in the world.

The Apostolic church began as a strictly Jewish movement. But Luke recorded how the movement branched out with the Samaritan Pentecost experience (Acts 8:14-17) and the Gentile Pentecost experience at Cornelius’s house (Acts 10:44-48). At the end of the Book of Acts, Luke spoke of Paul as spending two years preaching the gospel in Rome - the heart of the empire (Acts 28:30-31).

Acts shows that this started in the Jewish world and concluded in the heart of the Roman world. It’s a testament that Jesus truly was “believed on in the world” (1 Timothy 3:16).

Received Up into Glory

It also says that He was “received up into glory.”

Excluding Jesus, there were only two biblical people who were ever “received up into glory” - Enoch and Elijah. When we understand the significance of this happening to them, we’ll understand its happening with Jesus, as well.

Very little is said about Enoch (Genesis 5:21-24). But what is said is significant. Enoch walked faithfully with God and at some point, God took him to Heaven. So, being taken to Heaven by God shows that God finds the life of the person righteous and acceptable.

How Elijah was taken to Heaven in a whirlwind accompanied by horses and a chariot of fire has an even greater significance. Not only did God approve of Elijah’s ministry and remove him when that earthly ministry had been completed, but God also passed Elijah’s ministry on to another. And the Bible says that Elisha not only received Elijah’s ministry, but a “double portion” (2 Kings 2:9-10).

So there were two significant things projected onto Jesus’ ascension:

By Jesus’ ascension into Heaven, God declared that the ministry of Jesus had been accepted and was the work of the only legitimate Messiah.

By allowing the fledgling church to witness the ascension, Jesus ensured that the “double portion” of His ministry would be passed on to them.

It was for these two reasons that the early church celebrated Jesus’ ascension!

Conclusion

Internalizing the Message

We are being shown today that we are not sitting in an Apostolic church by accident.

It’s not the result of random events or some cosmic accident. And it’s not just the work of determined people of faith. It’s a work that God is continuing in us today. We are the ministry of Jesus!

Acts 1:1 NKJV

The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,

When Luke says, “former account” he’s speaking of his book of Luke. And he was saying that his Gospel of Luke was only the beginning of what Jesus did and taught.

But Jesus is only in Acts for ten verses. So how did Jesus continue to do an teach in the book of Acts?

His church, which Paul often referred to as His body, continues His ministry. In many churches spread across many cities, states, provinces, and nations, Jesus is still continuing to do and teach!

The most wonderful blessing is that God has invited us to be a part!