God's Household: Upholder of the Truth (Palos)

It’s a joy to be with you here this morning. God used Palos Bible Church in a powerful in my life. I was saved through the ministry of this church, and it was guest missionary speakers that God used to awaken within me my need to trust in Christ. I don’t know who the missionary was, but shortly after my family began attending here back in in mid 2000s, there was a guest speaker who was sharing an update on their ministry. I remember sitting upstairs at the time and thinking....wow. God seems really real to these people. He wasn’t just an idea to them, or a security blanket, or coping mechanism. He was real to them.

It was through that experience that I began to think seriously about the things of the Lord, and God used that to call me to Himself and save me. So I’m very thankful for the missions heartbeat of Palos Bible Church, and I hope and pray that never changes. I hope and pray that perhaps I can leave the same mark on someone else’s heart that was left on my own around 17 years ago.

We are church planting missionaries serving with Midwest Church Extension. Sometimes we think about the midwest, and the amount of churches that exist, sometimes on every street corner, and we might think “do we really need more churches?”

Sadly, the reality that we are experiencing is that many churches have abandoned the Scriptures as the sole authority for faith, and have embraced unbiblical worldviews. There is no doubt a similar phenomenon here in this area, but in our area we are surrounded by churches that have abandoned the gospel, teach baptismal regeneration, meaning they believe you receive salvation through water baptism, or have embraced a a variety of social justice platforms, or are pastored by lesbians. In addition to that, we have two full blown, home grown cults to contend with, whose leaders are oppressive and whose families are cut off if they leave the church.

In our town, there is one baptist church that I would feel semi-comfortable directing someone to if they needed a church home. That’s one church in a town of 40,000! Though there are many other churches, it is challenging to find quality, faithful bible teaching and gospel proclamation there.

So it is our aim to fix that.

We are planting Pillar Fellowship in Jeffersonville, Indiana, so that the Gospel might be proclaimed and believed, and that God’s Word might be taught that more would follow Him.

Several of you get our newsletters and we are grateful for you and your prayers for us. Here is a brief update:

Like so many churches, business, schools, and social arenas, there is a BC, DC, and AC. Before Covid, during covid, after covid.

For us, before covid, we were preparing to launch Pillar in 2020. We had a Bible study in our living room that was growing, we began seeking out a place to rent to hold meetings, people were inviting people who were inviting people. It was neat to see.

Then covid hit, and in many ways it took the wind out of our sails. We had to ask some hard questions. We found ourselves in a situation where people were afraid and needed the hope of the Gospel more than ever before, but because of the nature of the crisis, many were afraid to engage in those conversations in a personal way.

So, during covid, we had to get creative about how we did outreach. We used to go door to door knocking and talking. That wasn’t going to fly. We concluded that if I can’t have a personal conversation with someone because of the virus, that I could at least stand on a street corner and speak the Gospel, outside, socially distanced. I started doing open air preaching.

We also started going to our local farmers market that met in a public park. we set up outside the market and had signs that said “free bibles” or”prayer station” and offered to pray with people. This is a very low-confrontation, easy ministry that let people who were comfortable approaching us come up. We gave away dozens of bibles and prayed with many people and had many gospel conversations.

I don’t know how things are up here, but in our area, Covid is hardly a concern for anyone, so we are very much “after covid” and everywhere has gone back to normal, minus inflation.

So we have started doing other forms of outreach again. Something we do on a monthly basis is we have divided up our community into zones. We have door hangers and we are going door to door with those and hanging them on the doors for one zone each month. Then, during that month, every Sunday we pray for the people who received those door hangers. Each month we focus on a different zone. The doorhangers simply let the people know we are praying for them and desire to get to know them and invites them to reach out.

Again, this is a low confrontation, but effective way to reach out to a community. Just about anyone can walk a mile and hang some doorhangers. It isn’t difficult, it doesn’t require knowing apologetics. Just a willing heart and two feet that can carry you there. It’s been great to see almost everyone from our church participate in this over the months.

So those are some ways we are reaching out. We also have exciting things going on within the church as well. I’ve been hosting a men’s Bible study that is designed to build leadership abilities within the men of the church. God has called men to be leaders in their home, in their communities, and in their churches, and this is one way we have sought to be intentional about building those skills.

Some fruit from that we asked a young man who has been coming with his family for around a year to serve on the leadership team of the church. Since we are still a church plant, our church government is still a work in process. we currently have a steering committee, but we are working towards establishing elders. I hope to continue to work with this young man and see him installed as an elder some day. He is actually filling the pulpit for me today, which I’m delighted about.

We recently have begun a ladies bible study as well that Lizzy has been leading, and that has been going well.

There is much more that I could talk about. I’m sure you like to ask questions and I would love to answer them. But as we are here to Worship our Lord, o let’s pause for a moment of prayer as we turn our attention to His Word.

Often when I tell people that our churches name is Pillar Fellowship, people often want to know “why that name”?

Well, my sermon today is essentially the answer to that question.

When you got in your vehicle to come to here today, what did you say to anyone you might have interacted with? “It’s time to go to church”? “I’m headed to church”?

I’m confident that nearly if not every one of us have uttered those or similar words at some point. when we did so, did we mean the building, or the people? How do we think about the concept of church?

How are we to be thinking about ourselves? What are we to be doing?

If you would open your Bibles 1 Timothy 3.

The first 13 verses of the chapter outline the qualifications of elders and deacons within the church. These are to be men of high moral character. Above reproach, sober-minded, self-controlled, etc.

What we learn from the text that we will examine today, is that God has given these leaders, and these qualifications, in order to show forth how the church of God should function. These things are to be in place because of what the church is.

Who we are is directly related to what we do.

So what is the church? What is her mission?

Let’s read our text for this morning.

1 Timothy 3:14–16 ESV

14 I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, 15 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. 16 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.

Paul begins this paragraph after laying out the qualifications of the elders and deacons, letting Timothy know the reason why is he writing these things.

In many way, this paragraph serves as the purpose statement for the entire letter. This is why Paul is writing. He desires to come and teach, but these things are simply too important for him to wait to communicate.

Have you ever had a piece of information so important or so pressing that you wanted to share it with someone that you just couldn’t wait to tell it to them in person so you gave them a phone call?

In Paul’s day, there was no telephone. If you wanted to communicate with someone you had to show up in person or send a letter. Paul knows that he has critical information for the health of the church, but since he doesn’t know exactly when it is that he will be able come, he writes this letter to communicate this vital information about the qualifications of the leadership of the church among other things.

Why is it important to know these things?

Paul says “I write these things to you, so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself.

Paul wants his readers to know particular information, and that particular information ought to impact how they behave, how they conduct themselves.

He uses the word ought. How one ought to conduct himself.

It is necessary to live this way. These aren’t suggestions, nor recommendations. This isn’t just information and you can take it or leave it. There is moral weight to these things. There is significance to these things beyond simply helpful information.

Paul then goes on to give three descriptions of what the church is. He says the church is the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and support of the truth.

We need to pause to ask “why?” Why does Paul give all these analogies about what the church is?

What Paul needs us to see is the connection between what the church is and how that must impact how we conduct ourselves.

Who you are impacts what you do.

This is why the issue of identity is such a crucial issue. If you don’t know who you are and why you exist, you will struggle. If we had time we could talk about how that is true of individuals, of companies, and of churches.

The link between who you are impacts what you do in this passage is ultimately what led us to adopt our name Pillar Fellowship, and it helped us establish our purpose statement and core values.

We as the church must be clear on who we are, as that will set the stage for how we live. It is that connection that Paul wants us to make. Who you are impacts what you do.

So, Paul says I’m writing these things because they are too urgent to wait until I come, and I write them so that as you consider what the church is, it will impact how you behave.

What is the church? What are Paul’s descriptions?

First, we are the household of God, and as such, we are to embody the truth, relationally.

As God’s household, we embody the truth, relationally

Scripture often speaks of Christians as brothers and sisters in Christ. When we receive Christ, we become Children of God.

John 1:12 ESV

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

Rom 8 explains that we are adopted into God’s family and given all the rights and privileges thereof.

As God’s children, we are called to relate to each other as a family. There are dozens of one-another passages and commands in Scripture. Each one of those assumes that something is true: that we are in relationship with one another and spend time with one another. You cannot sacrificially love, serve, edify, and encourage those whom you never see.

When we consider the analogy of family, we recognize that often we run into familial dysfunction because of sin. The solution to this is through obedience to God’s Word.

Likewise, just as sin can mess up family relationships, sin can mess up church family relationships. Just like we might be tempted to strive for our own agenda’s in our family, we are tempted to strive for our own agenda with our church family.

The antidote to this is to live Gospel-empowered, Gospel-infused, and Gospel-informed lives.

A church family will be tempted to slide into dysfunction over things that really don’t matter in the long run, just like a natural family. When those temptations arise, we have an opportunity to embody the truth of God’s word as we live out the one-anothers.

Listen to this passage in Phil 2:1-8:

Philippians 2:1–8 (ESV)

3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

We have an opportunity, as God’s household, to embody the truth of God’s word, to embody the Gospel of Christ as we willingly lay aside our own agenda for the sake of loving those around us.

We can show deference to one another, we can lay aside our own desires and every time we practice the one anothers, we are embodying biblical truth for the world to see. And make no mistake: the world does see! They are watching!

Questions to ponder...

Are our church relationships marked by political maneuvering, or do we show deference to one another.

If an unbeliever observed our business meetings what would they see?

Do we enjoy the fellowship of our church body, or would we rather spend time with others outside the church?

As we embody the truth relationally, I hope we would be able to truthfully sing the song “I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God. Washed in the fountain. Cleansed by his blood. Join heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod. For I’m part of the family. The Family of God.”

When we live out the Gospel in our relationships with one another as God’s household, we embody the truth, relationally.

Notice that Paul makes a note about us being the church of the living God here.

This is important to note. No other false church, no other religion, has a living God! Our god is not formed by stones, wood, or anything else in nature, but rather he is the one who made the trees and the stones. Our God is alive!

To be living is to be active. Our God is not like Baal who was taunted by Elijah “maybe he’s sleeping and you have to wake him up, or maybe he’s in the bathroom...” No, he is alive and active in his creation!

And because he is alive and active, we also know that he speaks. He is not silent! He has given us his word, and His Spirit dwells within his people.

He is a living God who has revealed himself to us and given us instruction how to best live. And now we, as God’s church, His household, the church of the living God, we are commanded to uphold the truth of His Word which he has spoken.

Therefore, he calls us Pillars of truth.

As a pillar, we uphold the truth, declarationally

We are to be Pillars of truth, upholding the truth, declarationally. I realize I’ve made up a word there, but it is instructive for us on how we uphold the word of God. This church is not called to be passive, but active in her proclamation of the truth.

I am a bi-vocational pastor, and I run my own electrical business. From time to time I’m around the carpenters as they frame things up. Some of the projects that are most fun are the homes that are getting drastically remodeled. Walls are opened up, and things are stripped down. Some walls torn down to open up the floor plan.

In this process, the carpenters have to identify which walls are load bearing walls. Not every wall can simply be torn down without consequence. Those walls serve a vital function in holding up the house.

As a pillar of the truth, we are called to uphold the truth.

Not in the sense that if we didn’t exist the truth would cease to be. Heaven and earth may pass away, but the word of the Lord endures forever, amen?

But there is the reality that God has entrusted to us the truth of His word, and we are called uphold that truth. We must be a people that can be depended upon as a source of God’s truth.

This does not mean that we simply believe correct things, though it certainly must start there. But we must be active in communicating that truth to others.

I think of the words of Paul in 2 Cor 5:17-20

2 Corinthians 5:17–20 (ESV)

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.

What privilege to be God’s spokesman! What an opportunity to love the world around us as we declare God’s truth!

When Jesus issued the Great Commission in Matt 28, when he called his disciples to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth, and when Paul speaks of his evangelism efforts as speaking of nothing but Christ and Him crucified, we were called to a life of upholding the truth as the church of the living God.

Questions to ponder...

Are we active in the proclamation work of Gospel Witness?

Do our friends and coworkers know we are believers?

Does the church have intentional means of the getting the Gospel out?

When we gather for worship, is the Word of God faithfully proclaimed and upheld and authoritative?

As a pillar, we are to uphold the truth declarationally.

Finally,

As a buttress, we support and defend the truth, tenaciously

Depending on what translation you are using today, you might be confused with the wording on the screen. I mean, what even is a buttress anyway?

The NASB says “the Pillar and support of the truth” NKJV, CSB, and NIV say “foundation”, KJV says “ground”, the NET says “bulwark”, and the LEB says “mainstay”. The ESV gives us buttress.

The difference in translation, and the use of words that don’t make it into our every day vocabulary reveals a level of difficulty that exists with this word and how to bring it into English. This is the only place in all the Scriptures where this word is used, and there is some debate about how we ought to understand this word.

I believe there are two ideas present in this word. The first has to do with support.

This spring we were up at my in-laws place as one of Lizzy’s brothers was getting married. They asked me to help run sound for an outdoor wedding. The sound board was going to sit outside in the sun so I had to find a way to provide shade so that the sun wouldn’t damage the electronics. We found a a large picnic table style umbrella, but we had trouble finding a base to support it. In order for the umbrella to not tip or be blown over, there needed to be a large base that would support the weight. Most of the time, these bases, in addition to being heavy, are wider at the bottom than at the top. This is designed to provide more support so that whatever it is holding can do it’s work.

A buttress, a bulwark, or a mainstay serves a similar purpose. It fortifies a structure in order help it remain upright so that it will be less prone to collapse so that it can do its work. The truth will do its work, and we as the church, have the opportunity and privilege to support it, to hold it up as it does it’s work.

But often a buttress does more. Not only does it support the structure, but it fortifies it against outside attack. It is a defensive structure that adds strength in order that the walls not collapse under pressure from invading forces.

So It supports. It fortifies.

If we are to be a buttress, a bulwark, or a mainstay of the truth, what then are the implications for us?

Is our church life ordered in such a way that we support the truth or does our behavior bring shame and reproach upon Christ?

Do we aid in the pillar work of proclaiming and upholding the truth? Or do we get caught up in petty squabbles that undermine the strength of the body?

Regarding the defensive concept, do we contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints as Jude speaks of in his epistle?

Do we engage with the truth-starved world around us, shining light into the darkness, exposing its futility?

When the truth is attacked, do we run and hide? Or do we support and defend what we know is true?

I use the word tenaciously. This has become one of my favorite words in ministry life. Its a word that speaks of persistence, a determination, almost a godly stubbornness that digs in your heals and keeps pressing on and pressing in. We need tenacity in our defense and support of the truth.

What is the truth that we are defending?

1 Timothy 3:16 ESV

16 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.

This is our confession. This is what we believe! This is how great our God is! He entered into humanity! He was vindicated through his resurrection! The nations have heard and have believed in him! He is now in glory awaiting the day when he shall come again!

This is the truth we get to embody! This is truth we get to uphold! This is the truth we get to support and defend. This is everything!

Ever since I began studying God’s word more in high school and college, I came to the realization that “going to church” doesn’t mean showing up at a building. The people are the church. This is just a building. Palos Bible Church would still exist if this building burned down, because its the people that comprise the church. I’ve sought to instill in my children, and I’ve gone about doing that is a few ways, and it has to do with how we talk about church.

We’ve adopted intentional language about how we speak of our gathering place. I have often said “We’re going to where Pillar Fellowship meets” or something to that effect.

Recently I’ve added a few more phrases that help communicate this concept, and they aren’t all original with me, but they correspond to our main points today.

One pastor calls it the church house. This is the easiest and most natural way to talk about it. Its an easy shift. But this building is where the church gathers for family meetings. We are God’s household.

Another calls it an embassy. We are God’s representatives. We have come together to receive fresh marching orders from the King of kings. As we go out into the world, we are to live and act as ambassadors of our Lord. This means we do as he commands and we speak as he would have us speak. We are to uphold the truth as Pillars.

A third way to think about our meeting place is as an armory. We live a world that is a constant spiritual battlefield. Satan and his demons would love to see us make shipwreck of our faith. We gather together to be equipped for battle against the spiritual forces of darkness. We fortify ourselves through mutual encouragement and the proclamation of the word from the pulpit to stand against the enemy that we might go into the world and see others saved. We are a bulwark, a buttress. A defensive structure upholding and supporting truth.

Whatever you call this building, it is most important to know who you are, and then allow that information to inform how you order your life.

You are God’s household. The church of the living God. a Pillar and Buttress of the truth.

Let’s pray.