The Mystery of Godliness - 1 Timothy 3:14-16
Have you ever visited or maybe even belonged to a church that was incredibly ingrown? They didn’t have a lot of contact with the outside world, everyone only hung out with each other, perhaps they were cliquey, and there were inner circles that everyone wanted to be a part of. It’s exclusive. Things get even worse when the pastor believes or even teaches that their church is the only true church. They’re the only ones that are teaching the truth and concerned with everyone’s godliness.
And I bring that up because you could read this passage and think that maybe Paul is encouraging Timothy to make the church in Ephesus exclusive. After all, Paul tells him that they have the truth and confess godliness.
Those are trigger words when you talk about the church right? If you were visiting churches and someone said, “this church is about the truth and their personal holiness,” you’d probably think, “I’m going to keep looking.”
How uncomfortable would you all be if I said, “Here at Providence Presbyterian Church we’re a pillar of the truth and we’re all about godliness.”
Not only do statements sound arrogant, but, your legalism and works righteousness radar would start to pick something up as well!
And yet, that's the primary focus of these three little verses at the end of 1 Timothy 3: the church is a beacon of truth and godliness.
To be even more specific, a faithfully organized church holds up and supports truth and godliness.
You have to keep in mind Paul’s thought process here in 1 Timothy. He’s gone through conduct for men and women in chapter 2, the qualifications for elder and deacon in chapter 3 verses 1-13, and here he gives the reason for why church government is so important: it supports, protects, and encourages truth and godliness.
The Church Supports the Truth (vv. 14-15)
If you were playing a word association game and someone said, what words do you associate with ‘church government’? Would you immediately pipe up and say, “truth and godliness!” If you were playing that game you’d need to find some new friends.
But Paul makes that connection in our passage. After expressing a desire to visit Timothy and the church of Ephesus Paul gives his reason for writing to Timothy in the first place: 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.”
After all, everything that Paul has written in 1 Timothy so far could be summarized as how one ought to behave in the household of God. Beginning in 1 Timothy 2, Paul gave directions for how the elders ought to pray in worship, then in chapter 2 verse 8 he gave directions for how men ought to conduct themselves in worship and in verses 9-15 how women ought to conduct themselves in worship. Then in chapter 3 he gave instructions to Timothy for how the church should be organized, outlining qualifications for both the office of elder and deacon (3:1-13).
Paul wrote to Timothy to explain how the church should conduct and organize itself. Why? Because “the church of the living God [is] a pillar and buttress of the truth.”
Notice how Paul links together the household of God, the church family, and how it should be organized with God’s truth.
Church government is not one of those subjects that gets people animated. If you want subjects that will get people animated, bring up predestination or infant baptism or something like that, but church government doesn’t typically get a ton of response. Most of the time, the only response you’ll get is a few shoulder shrugs and a lot of yawning.
And even when you do get someone engaged in a conversation about church government it’ll often be minimized. Because why should we talk about this, or worse, debate it, when people are dying and going to hell? In the grand scheme of things, church government seems to be towards the bottom of significant issues within the church.
And yet, the Apostle Paul spends a considerable amount of time instructing Timothy in what to look for in elders and deacons! We might not think it’s incredibly important but God’s Word seems to think that it is!
That’s because the church is responsible for protecting God’s truth! Paul says, “the church of the living God [is] a pillar and buttress of the truth.”
He uses a building illustration to describe the responsibility of the church in guarding God’s truth. As I’m sure you all know, pillars are those large columns that hold a structure up, and a buttress is a support that reinforces the walls and foundation of a structure.
Paul clearly believes that the church has an important role to play. Which is why church government and the character of the men who are installed and ordained as ruling elders and deacons are so important.
The church has a collective responsibility to maintain, keep, and protect the truth! His truth, because this is a body dedicated and committed to the Lord!
Paul’s view of the church stands in dramatic contrast to the typical, modern, evangelical view of the church. We’ve made our faith incredibly individualistic. Just me and my Bible - what else do I need? Or perhaps you or someone you know and love who has professed faith no longer sees the point in going to church. American evangelicalism has an incredibly low view of the church.
There are countless people who we all know that profess faith in Christ, but don’t think it’s a big deal if they blow off the church. It’s like being on a raft out at sea. Any storm, current, or wave of false doctrine can easily carry them away. There’s nothing anchoring their faith. If you’re not a part of a local church where are you getting guidance? Who are you listening to?
And how do you prevent yourself from slipping into spiritual indifference? You and I need one another. We need the church, our shared faith is something that should bring us into fellowship with one another. We need encouragement, accountability, support, and friendships that will point us to Christ.
And there are lots of reasons you should love and appreciate the church, but Paul seems to be making one very clear point: the church is where we go to hear each week to hear God’s truth. Our faith is built up and strengthened by hearing God’s truth.
It may shock some of you to learn that the Westminster Confession of Faith says in chapter 25 paragraph 2 “that there is no ordinary possibility of salvation outside of the visible church.” That’s pretty heavy language isn’t it? But the Westminster Confession isn’t saying it's impossible to be saved outside of the church, rather, it’s saying it’s not ordinary. That would be an atypical case, because most are saved through the ministry of the church.
The church has a heavy responsibility to teach God’s truth. Pastors shouldn’t stand up on Sunday mornings and just talk about whatever pops into their minds. It’s about teaching God’s truth.
I think everyone probably understands that. It’s pretty self-explanatory. But what we often fail to realize is the cumulative effect of hearing God’s truth proclaimed Lord’s day after Lord’s Day after Lord’s Day. The church is where believers go to be built up and encouraged. Which is why church government, church leadership are so important.
Churches will rise and fall at the hands of their leadership and commitment to the truth.
I’ve had this conversation with a few of you, but there’s an understanding among many in the PCA, our denomination, that whenever a church goes off the rails nine times out of ten it’s because of the pastor. Whether it’s a moral failing or some version of false teaching - pastors are often the ones that want to drive the car off the cliff. And more often than not, it’s the lay elders and deacons who are holding the line.
Which really falls in line with what Paul is telling Timothy: he moves from giving Timothy the qualifications for godly elders and deacons to saying, “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.”
The Church Supports Godliness (v. 16)
The church confesses, “the mystery of godliness”
The church must protect and teach the truth, and secondly, the church must support and promote godliness.
Notice here that we learn in verse 16, the truth that the church must confess in verse 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.”
If you remember from last week, one of the qualifications for deacons was very similar. Paul said that deacons “must hold the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.”
Paul is using similar language in verse 16 when he says that the church’s confession is the mystery of godliness. But the mystery of Christian godliness is really not that mysterious at all because that wonderful hymn gives it away. The mystery of godliness is Jesus Christ. Actually it seems obvious doesn’t it?
One way to think about the mystery of godliness that I mentioned from last week are in the lyrics from that great hymn And Can It Be captured so well in the lyrics, “Amazing love, how can it be that thou my God shouldst die for me.”
Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross is our strength for living the Christian life.
The Jesus that saves your soul is the source of your godliness. The Christian’s godliness doesn’t come from anything he has done but in and through the finished work of Jesus Christ. The Christian isn’t holy by inherent righteousness, or some place of goodness tucked inside him, no the Christian is made righteous because he’s covered in the blood of the lamb.
The church has a responsibility to teach this truth as the basis for sanctification and spiritual growth. Because the Christian life is a lifetime of turning more of yourself over to Jesus Christ.
That’s what it means to be salt and light in a sin-sick world! The more you turn yourself over to him, the more you align your life in accordance with God's Word, the saltier and brighter you’ll become.
Truth and Godliness are Centered on Christ (v. 16)
It really sounds like Paul is laying down the ingredients for a church to become weird, cliquey, and ingrown, right? Paul’s basically telling Timothy that church government is critical for protecting the truth and building up godliness.
That would get some amens from Westboro Baptist Church wouldn’t it? We’re standing for truth and encouraging godliness.
But look at this hymn with me at the end of verse 16.
Before we dive deeper into this hymn, I want you to know that it’s poetry because it has a chiastic structure. A chiasm is a poetic structure where language is mirrored and repeated. A good example of a Biblical chiasm was when Jesus said, “But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.” Or another one is, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”
And that’s exactly what’s going on in the poem at the end of verse 16. For all of you Bill Shakespeares out there, these six lines are three contrasting couplets that form an ABBAAB structure if you’re into that sort of thing. Maybe the easiest way to see what I’m talking about is to look at the last word in each stanza of the poem: flesh, Spirit, angels, nations, world, glory.
It begins with earthy/worldly language and ends with spiritual/heavenly language.
Keep in mind, the New Testament was still being composed and compiled, so music would be a great way for believers in the early church to remember core doctrines of the faith.
But let’s walk through this confessional hymn together.
The first two lines are references to the key points of Jesus’ earthly ministry: the incarnation and the resurrection. The first line says, “He was manifested in the flesh.” This is a reference to the incarnation of Jesus Christ, which is what we celebrate at Christmas every year. The fact that the eternal Son of God took on flesh and dwelt among us.
The second line states that he was “vindicated by the Spirit” which is a reference to the other bookend of his earthly ministry: the resurrection. Now his whole ministry in one sense was “vindicated by the Spirit, right? He performed countless miracles, taught heavenly truths, but the absolute pinnacle of Jesus being “vindicated by the Spirit” came at his resurrection.
Paul makes this point in Romans 1:4 where he said, “[Jesus] was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord…”
The second couplet revolves around those who witnessed the power of Jesus’s ministry.
“seen by angels / proclaimed among the nations”
The power, work, and ministry of Jesus Christ was witnessed and affirmed by both angels and men. Throughout the gospel accounts, angels make it a regular habit to attest, validate, and affirm the power of Jesus Christ. Mark tells us the angels ministered to Jesus while he was in the desert. Angels “strengthened” him in Gethsemane. Angels bore witness to his glorious resurrection. And angels comforted the disciples after his ascension. So angels attested to, affirmed, and validated the work of Jesus Christ.
And so did people. People proclaimed the gospel of Christ among the nations, which is exactly what happened at Pentecost, right?
Peter preached and 3,000 were added that day. And the message that was proclaimed was for all people from every tribe, tongue, and language. The gentiles were graciously grafted into the kingdom of God.
It’s spelled out for us in the Great Commission: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.
The third and final couplet is about the results or outcomes of Jesus’ ministry.
He was “believed on in the world / taken up in glory.”
The natural result of Jesus being “proclaimed to the nations” would be people getting saved, right? The result of the gospel being proclaimed is the salvation of men. And once his earthly ministry was completed, he was “taken up in glory.” That is, he ascended into glory at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
On a broader, more basic level, this hymn that Paul is probably reminding Timothy of is simply a summary of the gospel. It’s a mini Apostles’ Creed.
But everything that happens in the church should be born out of a deep love for the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is our godliness.
But again, there’s a logical connection in these verses: the church must be about establishing good elders, protecting and proclaiming the truth, and encouraging godliness is all centered upon Jesus Christ. And when we cling to the truth and grow in personal holiness all out of a love for Christ - that is the church’s witness to the world!
There is something deeply ironic when we believe that in order to reach people for Christ we need to compromise God’s truth and live just like them.
Maintaining the truth and encouraging godliness among believers in the church should not be doctrines we cling to in order to keep the world at arm's length: no, those are the very doctrines we cling to in order to draw people in!
Jesus said in Matthew 5: “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.”
It’s naive to think that there is no connection between our church’s commitment to the truth of God’s word, your personal holiness, and reaching the lost. No, those things are intimately connected.
In order for the gospel to be proclaimed in power to the nations we must be committed to the truth and personal holiness.
Robert Murray M’Cheyne (1813-1843), an influential Scottish pastor famously said, “My people’s greatest need is my personal holiness.”
It’s certainly true for me. Ministers must be men who are committed to the truth and pursue holiness. But it’s true for everyone too. Your family’s greatest need is your unwavering commitment to God’s Word and your own personal holiness. Our church’s greatest need is your personal holiness.
And Jesus Christ is the well that you and I must return to over and over and over again. The same message that saves us is the very basis for our godliness.
