The Household of God - 1 Timothy 3: 14-16

1:30To gather together and pray, pray even for those who are in charge of the nations and those in authority. We've seen specific instructions to men and women in the church and their different roles in the church. We've seen instructions about how to appoint deacons, as I mentioned, and appoint elders. Later on in the letter, we'll see even more instructions about how to fight against false teaching, how to conduct themselves as they love the elders in the church, as they love widows in the church, and how to take care of them. All of these different relationships and instructions for Timothy as a leader in this church. And so in 1 Timothy 3, verse 14 is where we'll start. Our text will be 1 Timothy 3, verses 14 through 16. And if you look at verse 14, he says, I hope to come to you soon, but I'm writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know, and then stop right there. You don't get to look ahead yet. So he's setting up the reason. He's telling us why he's writing this letter to 1 Timothy. I think that the things that he's talking about are pointing backwards to all that he's already discussed, these instructions about the church, and all that he's about to discuss in the instruction about the church. But he's saying, I want to tell you these things face to face, and I hope to. Come to you soon, and I want to tell you these things face to face, but they're so important that just in case I'm delayed, I wanted to go ahead and send you this letter. It's so important for the church to have these instructions. So, again, I hope to come to you soon, but I'm writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know. And then he'll go on to describe what he wants them to know. What is the purpose of this letter? And it all has to do with the church, the household of God. Paul is giving Timothy and the other readers of this letter, he's giving them vital, important information about the church. What is the church? How are they supposed to understand the church? As he communicates why he wrote the instructions in this letter, he's communicating to Timothy and to us as readers of this letter. He's communicating what he thinks is vitally important for us to understand. He's communicating what we can expect Christ would think is vitally important for his church to understand. These instructions are important to our Lord and they're important to the Father.

4:17And so this morning, as we gather together and we read this brief section in his epistle, I think we are going to learn some really important things about the church. The center of why he is writing this book of the Bible. What is so important about the church? And as we step through, we'll see three facets of the church. Three facets of the church. And I believe that a mature church is going to show these things. A mature church is going to live the reality that these describe. They're going to display these facets of what a true church should be. And so as we step through these three facets, we at the same time get to rejoice that God is working in the true church to bring this about.

5:14We get to rejoice that he works in churches to make them look like this. But also, as we step through, this makes it a goal for our church to become these things even more. And the three facets are that they are committed to order, they're committed to God, and they're committed to truth. Three facets of a church, committed to order, committed to God, and committed to truth. So follow along as I read 1 Timothy 3, verses 14 through 16. Paul writes, I hope to come to you soon.

5:51But 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. 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. Pray with me before we start. Father, as we come to this passage, I pray that you would cause our hearts to recognize that this is vitally important information that Paul wanted Timothy to know. This is urgent information that couldn't wait until Paul saw Timothy face to face.

6:44This is important information about the church, who we are, what the church is. So I pray, Father, that this morning as we read and study and try and understand this passage, I pray that you would strike us with the weight of what your church is supposed to be. Humble us. Cause us to confess where we have viewed your church as something to be despised. Help us instead, in our hearts, treasure the church of the living God.

7:28Help us have an awe. And amazement when we gather with the saints. We thank you, Father, for making us part of your household, the household of God. Help us live that way. Help us love to gather. Help us love your word. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, the first facet of a church that we see in this passage is that the church is committed to order. The church is committed to order. Look again at verse 14. I hope to come to you soon, but I'm writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God.

8:15This is the reason why Paul is writing this entire letter, right? So that they would know how one should behave in the household of God when they gather. Why is this so important? Why is this so important? And what is it that is so important? How to behave? What does that even mean? I think that as we read through this letter, 1 Timothy, we see exactly what he means. How we're supposed to behave, how we're supposed to conduct ourselves, because he's giving all of these kinds of instructions about when you gather. First of all, then, I require that the men and everyone. Place, pray. You know, he's giving these specific instructions about how we should behave, how we should conduct ourselves. And that word behave doesn't just mean a one-time act. It's not just talking about a specific behavior. I think it's talking about kind of your whole manner of life as a church. How are we supposed to act around each other? What are we supposed to do? How do we conduct ourselves in the church?

9:27I believe this references the commands to be wary of false teachers when we gather, to watch out for teaching that could lead us astray. I think this is referencing the command to pray. I think this is referencing his discussion about men and women in the church and how they have different roles from each other in the church. This letter is describing how we're supposed to act, how we're supposed to behave, what we're supposed to do. And so Paul is urgently, quickly communicating these things to Timothy so that he'll understand.

10:09He gives three descriptions of the church as he steps through in verse 15. And the first one is in this verse, and this is really our outline. All three parts of our outline are in verse 15. And I'll explain that more as we go along. But the first one is, he says, how one ought to behave in the household of God. And this is the first description of what the church is. If we are to have a true Understanding of what the church is, if we have Paul's understanding of what the church is, then surely we would share in his urgency that we behave in the right way. I think the reason why we might not care about how to conduct ourselves, or we might think it's okay to get together as long as the church is growing, it doesn't matter what we're doing. You know, whatever works, whatever gets people in the doors, whatever keeps money coming through, or something like that, whatever other false churches excuse themselves with.

11:05If we had Paul's understanding of how important the church is, then we wouldn't talk like that. Instead, we would have his earnest desire of, okay, what are we supposed to do when we get together? And so his first word is that we are the house of God. The house of God. That word for house can describe the actual structure, like a house, but it can also describe the people who live in the house, which is why most of our translations translate it the household of God. Is that what your translation says? The household of God, how one ought to behave in the household of God. Now, some think that here in this text, he is describing the actual structure. He's calling it the house of God. We have that picture elsewhere in the New Testament, right? That we're being built up into a temple for the living God, something like that, that it's an actual structure. And those people who would Take it like that would also point to the end of this verse and say, you see, he uses other architectural terms like a pillar and a bulwark and things like this. And so, if that's true, then surely he's speaking about the physical house here, and he's saying it's like we are a temple of God, a house of God. But I think it's pretty clear that at the end of verse 15, he's using a separate illustration when he talks about the pillar. I think it'd probably be a little confusing to say that the church is the building and part of the building, you know, kind of mixing two ideas in the same metaphor. And so, I think instead, a better translation of this instead of house, instead of the actual structure, is that word household. And this would fit with this whole context of 1 Timothy. I don't know when the last time you read 1 Timothy was, but when we read 1 Timothy, one of the things that's very striking is that there's so much in it about these relationships that we have with each other. That the church is meant to be this family, this household of God together, that we, that Timothy is supposed to think of different members in the church as his family. He's supposed to rebuke older men as a father. And we have this instruction about widows in the church. We have all kinds of instruction about how we relate to each other. And so, I think this really fits with the context of 1 Timothy to call it the household of God. And besides that, already three times in this chapter, in verses 4 and 4, 5 and 12, he's used this exact same word to mean household, talking about the elders and deacons at their own homes, the conduct that they have with their household, with their families. They manage their household well.

13:44So, for all of that, I think this is a pretty slam-dunk case that he's talking about these relationships, that the church is this family, this household of God. And as part of this family, there are certain house rules, there's certain things that we obey, certain ways that we act when we are together as the family of God, as the household of God. We pay attention to our conduct. Now, in the early church, if they didn't understand how to behave, if they didn't receive these instructions from the apostles, well, then they're not going to do what God wants them to do. And so, God sends this message through the apostles. But really, in our own day, I think, even though it's unnecessary, that's also often true. You have churches that are just kind of carrying on the legacy of the generation before. They don't know why they're doing certain things, and so they're trying out a lot of new gimmicks that some of the megachurches are using or something like that. And you see kind of this straying away from what the scriptures say about the church.

15:00I think instead we should treat it as a treasure that we have a letter like this where Paul says, this is what you're supposed to do when you gather together. This is how you're supposed to behave when you're with the household of God. You are a family. You have all of these relationships. Paul is in relationship with them and he wants to tell them this face to face. But it's so vital that he's sending this letter to tell them, be committed to this. Be committed to order. Be committed to these instructions. Know how you're supposed to act when you gather as a family, these house rules. And so a true church, a mature church, is going to be committed to order. And I think for each of these items that we'll see, each of these is going to be a reality and a goal as we seek to apply this. I think that it's a reality because when God is working in a church for maturity, this is going to be true. When God is working in a church, a church is going to know how to behave rightly. A church is going to know how to conduct themselves. God produces this kind of order in a church. It's a reality of what a mature church is. This is something that Christ does as he builds his church. And so we can know that if a church is disorderly, if a church has no regard when they gather together, no regard for the Word of God, if they're doing only what they want instead of what the Word of God says, if the church is a mess or full of scandals, well, there's something far worse than just a behavior problem in that church. There's an issue that they're not being a mature church. That's not a church that God is working in in that way.

16:56If it's a mature church and God is causing this order, the true church is committed to order. So, this is a reality, but this is also a goal for us, right? If we know that this is what God wants, God wants us to be mature and ordered, to behave well and conduct ourselves rightly when we come together, well, then we, as a church, we need to be committed to that idea. Already at this church, we have principles set in place to allow our body to be an orderly gathering when we gather together, but we should strive for that all the more. We should learn what it looks like to behave rightly, to conduct ourselves rightly when we gather together. So, we work hard for this.

17:43One more application on this. This is kind of just a side note, but just thinking before we move on to the next point: if this is so vital, if this was so urgent for Paul to communicate this to the church. Then I think it's important for us to stop and ask: you know, when was the last time I read the pastoral epistles? When was the last time I read 1 Timothy? The pastoral epistles are these letters, Titus and 1 Timothy, and 2 Timothy.

18:22And I think sometimes we can have this dismissive attitude about it, like, oh, that's just for the pastors. You know, he's writing to Timothy as his protege, and that's great to see that relationship. And glad he gave so much instruction to Timothy. We can kind of dismiss these letters as if they don't have a lot to do with us. But I think if we take it at face value and we see this urgency in Paul to get this letter to Timothy as soon as he can, and if we care about the church as Paul cares about the church and as Christ cares about his church, then I think that we're going to treasure these very tiny books of the Bible: 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus. I think these are going to be books that we read over and over and over because we want our church to reflect the glory of God. We want to participate in the things that God wants us to participate in.

19:16So I think that can be a convicting thing for all of us. When was the last time we read these letters carefully and compared them to what our church actually looks like? Compared them to whatever church we're visiting. Paul urgently wants Timothy to know these things, and so our church should be committed to order as well, committed to knowing what God wants in his church. The second facet of the church is that the church is committed to God. The church is committed to God. Look again at verse 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.

20:02The church of the living God. Now, when we hear that phrase, the living God, what comes first to your mind? I think that that phrase, the church of the living God, the living God, that can make us in our context think first about life, which is true. God has life in Himself. He's not like the dead idols. And He gives that life to us, all of those things. But I think if we were good students of Scripture, when we hear the word living God, it should also remind us about the fear of the Lord. That's how this phrase is used very often in the Scriptures. It's found all over the Scriptures, and in almost every case, it is this fear of the Lord, terrifying moment. Listen to Deuteronomy 5.2. 26. This is as Moses is remembering the people's request to not have to see this trembling mountain and fire and smoke because they're terrified. Instead, they say, Moses, you can take care of that for us. You know, you speak to God, and then you come and speak to us. He says in Deuteronomy 5:26, for who is there of all flesh that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire as we have and has still lived? So this is what the people are saying. They're saying, Moses, you go and speak for us. We can't hear that any longer because who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have and still lived? This is something frightening. This is something terrifying. The living God. Listen to Jeremiah 10.10. This is much later in the Old Testament. It says, But the Lord is the true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath, the earthquakes and the nations cannot endure his indignation. So when Jeremiah is remembering the living God, it's in this context of wrath and earthquakes and nations not being able to endure the indignation, the presence of the living God. He is supreme and he is terrifying. He is fearful. It says in Hebrews 10, 31, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Do you remember that verse? It's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. So when we read Church of the Living God, I believe that fear of the Lord, that holiness and reverence, is supposed to strike us. Now, that is also used in other ways in Scripture. You might remember in a couple of the Psalms, it talks about how they are longing to go to the temple so that they can worship the living God. They're thirsting after the living God. You can write down Psalm 42 and Psalm 84. They use that phrase, the living God, and how the psalmist is desperate to go to the temple and worship the living God. But I think that that phrase, again, should strike that fear into us. And so just as this living God dwelt among the Israelites and filled them with terror, even though he was their God, I think that's the point that he's trying to communicate to the church.

23:47If these instructions are so important in the letter of 1 Timothy, if they need to know how to behave and how to conduct themselves, well, part of the reason. Why is because they're the household of God. They're this family that's gathered together that needs to know how to be ordered and structured. But another reason is because they're the church of the living God. They need to have a healthy fear of the Lord. They need to respect the Lord. Turn over for just a minute to 2 Corinthians 6. He'll make a similar point there.

24:26And he'll explain it a little bit more. This is 2 Corinthians chapter 6. Starting in verse 14, he's going to be speaking about partnering with unbelievers, being unequally yoked with unbelievers. And usually in our circles, we apply that most often to marriage. That's how we hear this verse quoted: don't be unequally yoked with an unbeliever. And I think it certainly applies to that. But in the context of 1 Corinthians, he's speaking about them accepting this teaching of the false teachers over his teaching as a true apostle. And so he says in 2 Corinthians 6, verse 14, Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with Isaac? For we are the temple of the living God.

25:37He uses the same picture of this is not just something, pretend. You know, when God filled the temple in Israel's day, they didn't get to just make up how they worshiped him. He gave them specific rules of how they were supposed to worship. And in fact, when they did just make up their own way to worship him, it didn't go well for them, right? For Nadab and Abihu and others who make similar mistakes. And it's because this isn't a fake God that they're worshiping. This isn't a dead God. This isn't some idol that humans just get to make up how to worship. This is the living God. This is the powerful, fearful God who has dictated exactly how he is to be worshipped. And so he's applying that fear and that principle to the Christians. He says, for we are the temple of the living God. And then he goes on, this is verse 16. We are the temple of the living God. As God said, and he quotes from Leviticus, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And then he quotes from Isaiah, he says, Therefore go out from their midst and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing. Then I will welcome you. And then he quotes from a couple other places, probably Hosea and Elsa. Where he says, I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. And so, Paul, I think, is quoting several Old Testament passages to say, you see this principle clearly for the Jewish people, that they had a physical temple, and the Lord really indwelt that temple, and so they weren't to worship in any way that they wanted, and they weren't to partner and bring unclean things into the temple, set up an idol in the temple to worship alongside the Lord, that would be terrible. And they do do that in their history. But just as they are to keep those things separate in their history, so in the church, if we are now the temple of the living God, then we are not to have this partnership to bring in these dark partnerships with our worship. We are to remain separate, to remain holy because we are the temple of the living God. And you can turn back to our text, 1 Timothy chapter 3. And so it makes sense why he's bringing this up: this church of the living God, is that if we're to think rightly about the church, if we're to think rightly about our church as we gather together, then thinking rightly includes thinking that carries with it this weight of the reality that we are the church of the living God.

28:25We're not meant to be flippant, we're not meant to. Take after other religions or adopt their practices or adopt the practices of the world or something like that. We're to listen to what God has said about His church. He is the living God. And so, with a holy reverence for Him, we gather and we do what He tells us to do. We pay attention to what Paul says to Timothy about how to conduct ourselves when we gather. And again, this is a reality and a goal for us. It's a reality that the church is the church of the living God. This gathering of believers locally, we are the church of the living God.

29:12This church is the church of the living God. And so, this is a reality which tells us don't mess with that. You don't mess with the church's purity. If you're a wolf in sheep's clothing, it should terrify you what you're doing. If you are part of this church body because you want to bring in false teaching, because you want some kind of following and you're waiting to get put into a Bible study so that you can finally be the leader and get some people to think that you're great, if you're a wolf in sheep's clothing, this should terrify you because this is a church of the living God.

29:52So, don't violate that purity, don't tarnish the truth in this body. But also, this is a goal. This represents a goal for us. Yes, it's a reality, but it's also a goal that we should be committed to God. We should care about what the Lord wants us to do. We should care about reflecting His glory and His design for His church. We shouldn't have a dismissive attitude when we come as if this is just something we check off at the beginning of our week. We come in late, we leave early, and then we get back to what really matters, watching football, you know, or going to work. Instead, we gather with awe and amazement that we get to encounter this church of the living God.

30:46The church is committed to order. The church is committed to God. And the third facet of the church is that it's committed to truth. It's committed to truth. And this is really the one that's fleshed out for us the most in this passage. We've seen that in verse 15, he says, this is the household of God. Then he says, which is the church of the living God. And then he says, a pillar and buttress of the truth.

31:14A pillar and buttress of the truth. We spoke about this verse over the summer at Emmanuel, that the church is the pillar of the truth, and the church is the bulwark or the buttress of the truth. Not that the truth depends on the church. Not that the truth depends on the church. God's truth will march on. He will spread his gospel. He will build his church. So the truth is not dependent on the church, but the church is a pillar of that truth. I like what John Stott wrote about this. He says that a pillar has to hold firm onto what it holds up, and it has to hold it high. And so if a pillar is being effective, it's going to hold firm to it, and it's going to hold it high. And I think that's a good picture for us, and I do think that's the picture that he's giving in this text, that Paul is giving in this text, is that we as a church are to be people who hold firm to the truth, but also hold it up and put it on display for all the world to see. This is the truth that we believe.

32:23The second term, buttress. This used to frequently be translated as foundation, and maybe that's how you memorized this verse when you were a child, that the church is the pillar and the foundation of the truth. But it seems better to, instead of using that word as foundation, we find it more often used in those times to represent a bulwark or a buttress, like building up the ground to hold up a foundation, propping something up, not the foundation. Of the truth, but a bulwark of the truth. And that makes sense again with this verse, right? Just like the pillar. It's not that the church, it's not that the word of truth is dependent on the church, as if the church needed to prove the word of God or something like that, but instead, the church is something that props up the truth, that displays it, puts it on display, carries it forward.

33:27The church should be committed to the truth. Now, again, for the third time, I think this point, too, is a reality and a goal for us. I think that it's a reality that throughout church history, this is exactly what's been the case, right? That the true church, true believers, have carried on this truth. They have put it forward and propped it up and shouted out the truth. Not in the Roman Catholic sense, not in the way of saying that the church is the final arbiter of the truth or that the church is the only interpreter of the truth or something like that. But instead, that the church has been used by the Lord. The church that the Lord built has been used by the Lord to be the chief way that he spreads his truth throughout creation, the truth of his word as it goes out, as the church preaches the gospel and teaches his word. So this is a reality. But again, I think that this should be a goal for us.

34:30As a church, we should be profoundly and tightly connected to the truth. This is one of our core values at Emmanuel, biblical truth. This should be something that is so important to us because, as a church, we should be a pillar and a buttress of the truth. We should be people that love the truth of God's Word and shout it out and put it on display, who seek to know everything we can about the truth of God's Word so that we can put it on display and hold it up high for everybody to see.

35:09The truth should be very important for us. Again, I think that this is not just the role of a pastor. You know, it's not our opportunity in the pew to say it's a good thing we have a pastor that preaches the word of God. It is a good thing that we have a pastor that preaches the word of God. But it is also all of our responsibility as people in this church that all of us are to be people who learn the scriptures and know them well so that we can put God's word on display, so that we can be a pillar and a buttress for the truth.

35:50Well, in verse 16, the last portion of our text this morning, Paul goes on to describe a character. Confession of the truth. If the church is to be a pillar and a buttress of the truth, well, Paul is going to share some of that truth that we're to be committed to. So look at verse 16. He says, 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 seems to be some kind of early church confession or creed, or at least part of one.

36:32And I think it represents, I think, the spin-off in Paul's mind is that this is part of the truth that the church is supposed to hold up, are these statements. And so we're going to quickly go through these. Before we do, let's look at his words at the beginning of verse 16. He says, Great indeed we confess is the mystery of godliness. So that word for great indeed is this idea that it's undeniably great. You know, unquestionably, this truth is worth confessing. It is magnificent. It is grand. It is great. And what is this reality that we're confessing? He calls it the mystery of godliness.

37:18What is that? Have you ever thought about that phrase before? The mystery of godliness. Remember, we see that word mystery several times in the epistles that it It's always used of something that was hidden before about the Lord, hidden before, but then revealed through him and his apostles. A mystery. But why does he say the mystery of godliness? What is the mystery of godliness? Well, in these little phrases, these six phrases, it's clear he's talking about Jesus Christ himself, that Jesus is this mystery of godliness. So maybe he's saying that, speaking of Christ's perfection, Christ's godliness, or maybe he's speaking of how this is how we received our godliness. This is the mystery behind how we received our godliness, how we were forgiven by grace and made into godliness and righteousness. But this confession is called the mystery of godliness. And so let's look at the confession. He says, he was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, and taken up in glory.

38:36Remember, when we come to a confession like this, the main point of a confession like this is to battle false teaching, right? And we know that this was in the context of 1 Timothy because Paul's been saying this over and over in the letter. This is like how he starts the message of the letter, is that Timothy needs to be aware that deceivers are coming in and they're trying to take captive the church. And so they need to be committed to the truth. And then he'll repeat that same idea in chapter 4. He'll talk about many deceivers coming in. And so Timothy needs to be there and take a stand for the truth. Another thing we know is that the things that are proclaimed in this testimony are exactly the kind of things that false teachers would attack in this first-century church. And even today, we know that, do you remember in 1 John how John seems to be making so much of the fact that he saw him with his own eyes, that the apostles heard him with their ears, they touched him with their own hands.

39:41This is in direct contrast to those false teachers who would say something like, Jesus was only a spirit when he came. He wasn't actually in the flesh. He didn't actually take the form of a man. God would never do that. And so the apostles needed to battle this kind of teaching early on by saying things like, he was manifested in the flesh. You can see why that would get put into a confession. He was manifested in the flesh. Another early false teaching we read about in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul is emphasizing in 1 Corinthians 15 that Jesus really was raised from the dead, contrary to those false teachers who would claim that there is no resurrection of the dead. And so you can see why he would make it into a confession. He was resurrected from the dead. He was vindicated by the Spirit and seen by angels and taken into glory. And so you can see that this confession is a confession of truth and probably against error, a confession of truth against error that the early church would need. They need these truths. Now, some people would split this up into six different verses or six different stanzas. Others would say that, no, this is two stanzas with three lines each. Others would say it's three stanzas with two lines each. I don't know if we could ever know that. If I had to choose, I would choose the last one, three stanzas made up of two lines each. And the first line is that he was manifested in the flesh. So Christ did appear in the flesh. He wasn't just this phantom spirit that was floating around pretending to be in flesh. No, he was in flesh, and he was in weak flesh, and he shares in our weakness. He understands, he can sympathize with us. He can be now our perfect mediator between God and man because he lived as a man. He understands the temptations we feel, though he was sinless. He understands the temptations we feel. He understands hunger. He understands thirst. He understands all of those. He's lived with those things and is our sympathizer. He's able to die in the flesh, to truly die, not some phantom on the cross that looks like it died. But he was able to physically die since he was manifested in the flesh. And then, of course, Physically be resurrected again. He died for our sins, even though he was sinless.

42:07So, first, he was manifested in the flesh. Second, he was vindicated by the Spirit. This one, I think, takes a little bit more interpretation, that he was vindicated in the Spirit. You know, what does that mean? Vindicated by the Spirit, or vindicated in the Spirit. Some interpret this as that he was justified in the Spirit. So, if those two first lines do go together, that He was manifested in the flesh, but justified in the Spirit, as if to say, Yes, He was in flesh just like ours, but He was still perfect in the Spirit. He never sinned or anything, He just had a flesh just like ours. And we would say that's certainly true. He was in flesh and sinless in that flesh. But I think that the context of this and the language that He uses does point more to this idea of that He was vindicated by the Spirit. That first word can be vindicated or justified, but that He was vindicated by the Spirit, that the Holy Spirit was working in Christ's life to vindicate His claims through the miracles that Christ was doing, or specifically, especially through the resurrection of Christ. We see this language all over the New Testament, that the Spirit was involved in this resurrection, and that the resurrection proclaims that what Christ said about Himself was true, that Christ was the true Christ. Messiah, that Christ was the Son of God. Listen to Romans chapter 1, verse 4. Paul says that Jesus Christ, our Lord, was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead. Did you catch that? The Lord was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead. So when we look at the resurrection, we see the Spirit, the Spirit's power raising Jesus and showing, declaring that he is the Son of God. He was vindicated by the Spirit.

44:11Next, He was seen by angels. This one also takes a little bit of interpretation. You know, what is this confession talking about? He was seen by angels. Christ was seen by angels. Angels were at Christ's birth in Luke 2:13. Angels ministered to him after his temptation in Matthew 4, 11. Angels ministered to him in the garden before the crucifixion in Luke 22, 43. Angels witnessed his resurrection. They were there at the tomb in Matthew 28, 2.

44:52So the angels saw all the significant acts of Jesus' life. Or is this speaking? Of his triumphal parade over the evil angels. Do you remember that? It says in Colossians 2:15, he disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them and him. This idea that he had this victory, this triumph over the evil angels when he died and rose again from the dead. Or is he speaking of the angels' strong desire to watch the gospel unfold and watch it be proclaimed by the apostles?

45:35Remember, 1 Peter 1, Peter talks about how when the apostles are declaring the gospel of God, he says that these are things into which the angels long to look. Or is he speaking about how Christ even now is in the heavens, and so the angels see him now? You see, there's a lot of options because the angels witnessed all of his life, they witnessed his resurrection, he did proclaim to evil angels, they did look longingly and long to see what God was going to reveal. And he is in heaven, in the presence of the angels even now.

46:12And I think that maybe that's the point that all of this has been witnessed. All of these truths about Christ have been witnessed by the angels. He is the one who was seen by the angels. That phrase in Peter talks about how they were stretching their necks. I think it uses. This idiom for they're stretching their necks to see, like they can't wait to see. They're watching the gospel unfold in the life of Christ and in the ministry of the apostles. So Christ is uniquely this one who is seen by the angels, seen by the angels, manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, next proclaimed among the nations.

46:54Less interpretation here, right? This one's pretty obvious that Christ's gospel went out, he was proclaimed among the nations. This also, by the way, you know, if we're viewing this as a confession to battle false teaching, you know, maybe even this one is against those Judaizers that say you have to become a Jew before you can become a Christian, or you have to become circumcised before you can become one of Christ's people. Maybe there's something about that. Maybe that's reading too much into it. But I think the point is obvious either way that Christ was proclaimed among the nations. He's the one whose gospel went out not only to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles, to all the nations. Christ was proclaimed. Proclaimed among the nations. And as a result of this, the next one, believed on in the world. Jesus was believed on in the world. He was flesh. He did die. He did rise again. And this message went out and people did believe in this gospel. And lastly, he was taken up in glory.

48:00Taken up in glory. I think this sounds like his ascension, right? As the disciples stood there to watch him taken up into the heavenly places where he is even now, seated at the right hand of the Father. So manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among in the nations, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. You know, there's so many truths packed into this tiny little confession of truth.

48:32It clearly affirms certain truths about Christ against false teaching. And if we, as a church, are to be the pillar in the ground of the truth, then we also are going to be people who care a lot about the truth, who want to find out specifically the true doctrine based on God's Word. We ought to be people who hold tightly to this truth and proclaim it widely. I think we've got lots of applications as we went along this morning. Lots for us to work on that we need to know these pastoral epistles. If we care about the church and we want to understand what the church is and what it's supposed to look like, we should read 1 Timothy. When was the last time you read 1 Timothy? I think we've also seen that we should have this very high view of the church.

49:31Paul doesn't say that he wants them to follow these instructions because it's going to be happy for them, or it's just what we've always done, or something like that. He's telling them, you need to follow these instructions from the apostles because the church is great, the church is grand, the church is this magnificent household of God, the church of the living God, the pillar and buttress of the truth. We should have this high view of what the church is. We should care about the church's purity. We should realize there's a certain way we should act when we come together. We should be careful to act that way. We should be careful to obey what's in the scriptures. We should be careful to reflect the glory and majesty of the living God.

50:28We should be careful to know the truth if we're the pillar of the truth, if we're a pillar of the truth. We should be careful to know the truth, hold firm to the truth, and hold it high for the world to see, put it on display. Especially the truth about Christ, that he was manifested in the flesh, and vindicated by the Spirit, and seen by angels, and proclaimed among the nations, and believed on in the world and taken up in glory. We should be. Proclaim these truths. So, yes, when we gather, as we see in so many other texts of Scripture, we should care a lot about loving each other and encouraging each other, building each other up in the faith, being joyful together, giving thanks together, singing together. All of these things are true. But also, if we're to take this text seriously, then when we gather as a church, in addition to all those things we have been commanded, we also should be serious-minded about the church.

51:31We should be serious-minded about our God and the truth, and what He wants us to know and how He wants us to act because we serve the Living God. So, pray with me, Father. Seen so much in this text, almost too much for us to handle in one morning. And I just pray, Father, that you would help us internalize these things, help us understand the magnificence of the Church of the Living God. Help us tread lightly as we walk on holy ground when we come and gather with the saints.

52:22Help us have a healthy fear and awe of you, not terror of being judged, for we know we're forgiven. Because of Christ and his sacrifice for us, we know we're forgiven by faith, by grace, forgiven by grace through faith. But still, though we don't come with terror of judgment, we should come with this healthy fear that the church is the church of the living God. Help us have that in our hearts. Help us care what you wrote in your word. Help us long to know the instructions that you gave to your church through your apostles and prophets. Help us pay attention to the words of Scripture.

53:17Help us as a church be a church that honors you. Thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen.