This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “Considering the Church” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, September 18, 1994.

We begin our reading this morning in Matthew 20, beginning at verse 17. I give your attention to the reading of God’s holy and infallible word. And Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples apart in the way and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge, and to crucify him, and the third day he shall rise again.

Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him and desiring a certain thing of him. And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, one on thy right hand and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask.

Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. He saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.

And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. But Jesus called them unto him and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you, but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister, and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for men.”

Then turning over to 1 Timothy 3, reading from verse 14, this is 1 Timothy 3.14. These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly. But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and mainstay of the truth. And by common confession, great is the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received back into glory.

Let’s pray together. Help each one of us, Lord, young and old, not to allow anything to intrude upon your word, to blot out our consideration of it. So may we be focused, Lord, upon you, back to the benefit of our souls. I ask for myself that there may not be anything in me that would intrude upon your word and hinder its communication. Bless us as a congregation that confesses our love for you and our devotion to Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

Now, when we come to 1 Timothy 3, verse 16, it is imperative that we keep before us Paul’s basic concern in this letter. That concern is stated for us very conveniently in verse 15, although it has taken the Apostle three chapters to get around to telling us what it is. That concern is stated for us, as I said, in verse 15.

Paul is distressed. That is the note that is rising from beneath the surface of his words, always distressed because of some great spiritual, some great doctrinal danger to both Timothy and to the Church at Ephesus where Timothy is presently serving. Now he fears his delay in coming to Timothy. So he writes to this man in order that, as he says, he might know how to behave himself or how to conduct matters in the house of God, a church that is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and mainstay or memorial or monument or abode of the truth.

Oddly, many commentators, as they move into the 16th verse, lose the sense of Paul’s argument with Timothy, and treat verse 16 as if it were a non sequitur. It has been identified, the 16th verse, for example, as a brief digression. He has also been identified as an ecstatic outburst, as if Paul at this point, at the 16th verse, is overcome and can’t do anything else but burst forth in doxological praise. But the verse, you see, then, stands by itself in the judgment of these commentators.

It is my hope that we might see something of the interconnectedness of these two verses before we end this morning, including that this sixteenth verse is neither digression nor outburst, but a deepening of the Apostle’s essential concern for Timothy’s behavior with respect to the truth. And this concern, laid in against the background of a very powerful and glorious presentation of the Church in light of Old Testament temple imagery. Now last week, as we dealt with verse 15, we spoke at length about that glorious powerful Old Testament temple imagery that comes to bear upon the Apostle’s vocabulary. From Paul’s perspective, I’ll ask you to call to mind what you know about that Old Testament revelation. From Paul’s perspective, The Church, follow him as he moves through there, 15th verse now, 15th verse now.

The Church, that is the people, we have certainly satisfied ourselves on that account, have we not? The Church, that is the people, we are not talking about building, we are not talking about structure, we are not even talking about hierarchy or the leadership of the Church being identified as the Church. No, the Church is the people. And from Paul’s perspective, these people now are God’s house. They are also his assembly. That is what the word Church means. But even going further than that, if you can imagine it, he goes on to identify them with the pillar. Think what that might mean.

What pillar is there that presents itself, for your consideration, out of the Old Testament, and that particularly in connection with the Temple? Is it not the glory cloud of the Lord? So the Church is God’s house, it is his assembly, it is his glory cloud, and it is his memorial, his mainstay.

Actually, this last term is even more glorious than we stated last week. We could move in the direction of the foundations of the temple which, in Old Testament language, was immovable. Of course, we found that the Old Testament temple was movable, and we look for a temple and a drawing place that has a foundation that cannot be moved. But even beyond this possible reference to the foundation of the Temple, there may be something here that is even more magnificent still, as we think about that which is permanent, or a symbol of permanence in that Old Testament Temple.

We have the glory cloud in the pillar, but you know that glory cloud comes and stands over the mercy seat that covers the Ark of Not only are you the house, not only are you the assembly, you are the veritable glorified and earth of the covenant of the Lord.

In other words, there simply is nothing more glorious on earth. In the estimations of the Apostle Paul, than the Church of Jesus Christ. Nothing. It is virtually identified as the meaning of those things in the Old Testament that draw into consideration the Lord’s most holy, overwhelming, and unapproachable splendor. In short, the Church is not only the new people of God thus displacing the old Israel, but she is the new temple thus displacing the old temple, together with all of the old temple’s most astonishing chapters and treasures.

Our world and even our modern church is caught up in a cult that is just as damaging as the cult of Diana, whose temple stood in Ephesus where Timothy labored. Our world and the modern church are caught up in the cult of self-esteem. A cult that preaches that we must tell ourselves and our children lies so that they, so that both we and they, will think as highly of ourselves as the leaders of the cult say we are entitled to think. I am the greatest. We’re very close to it. The problem with the self-esteem cult, in part, is its inability to assess rightly the truth about human depravity and the appropriateness of a low view of ourselves.

We express that low view when we state in joining this Church that because of our sinfulness we abhor, that is, we hate, and humble ourselves before God. And this low view extends even to our children when in presenting them for baptism we acknowledge that they are conceived and born in sin and are subject to condemnation. We are not under any delusion. We and our children are sinners. The cult of self-esteem has no appreciation for these fundamental truths. But the cult of self-esteem equally has no ability to take the members of Christ’s Church to the heights of their true value.

The message of self-esteem falls short For you see, our self-esteem comes by way of our union with Christ and by the inclusion in him. A reality not of us or because of us, but in spite of us, affected by Christ’s death and resurrection for us and applied to us by his Holy Spirit. Such esteem as we have for ourselves is not generated by vain and insidious self-deception, but by our inclusion in Christ, by which we have become God’s house, his assembly, his bull, cloud, and his ark. Filled with such thoughts, indeed, filled our children with such thoughts. must lose its sting, because it simply cannot take us high enough.

Jesus Christ takes us higher than even the temple, the cloud, and the ark of the Old Testament, and certainly far beyond the limits of any pagan cult, be it the cult of self-esteem or that of the Greek goddess Diana, whose temple was within range of the Church.

If then we have established for ourselves the fact that Paul here is building his case with Timothy as he expresses his concern for this man by taking Old Testament language and applying it to the Church, as that Church is the new temple of God. We do not hesitate at the same time to suggest that Paul’s interest in 1 Timothy concerns the very practical and immediate question of leadership in this new temple. I might say that this is the thing that is lost sight of as we move through Paul’s argument in 1 Timothy. He is building his case for order and leadership in the church against the background of his conviction that the church is the new temple. And since we no longer have a priesthood that is given to us by heredity, what kind of leaders are we going to have in this new temple? The leadership that Timothy is to exercise in the new temple answers the leadership exercised by the priests in the Old Testament temple. But it is of interest that although Timothy renders service in this new temple, he is not called anywhere a priest. In fact, and it’s not without reason, those who carry an ordination similar to Timothy are called pastors.

This is a pastoral measure. Such individuals we call ministers. And how expressive that title is. It rises for us in our ecclesiastical vocabulary naturally out of a passage like Matthew 20. And very possibly, Matthew 20, 28, where Jesus said the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many.

One cannot enter Church leadership, let alone conduct himself in that leadership in such a way that suggests that Church leadership is a means of gain, a route for personal aggrandizement. It shatters the personal advantage, a means by which one might exercise authority over others. Just for the sake of exercising authority. From Paul’s point of view, church leaders, although rendering special service now in God’s new temple, are not a caste of privileged characters. Their interests must not be themselves. Their interests must be others.

As God, for Christ’s sake, sees those others, and Paul tells us how God sees them, he sees them as his heart, as his assembly, as his glory cross, as his throne, and as his ark. So exceedingly dear are these, then, to God. who make up his church that he does not hesitate to describe them through his apostle in ways that underscore their identification with God himself in his most holy and hallowed association from the Old Testament.

But if this hasn’t put the dangerously ambitious the overachieving, power-hungry church leader in his place, Paul goes on to speak about the great mystery of godliness in verse 16. The New American Standard, in its translation of the intro in verse 16, puts it this way, and by common confession, great is the mystery of godliness. It is a common confession that expresses this mystery. Now, obviously the leaders of the Church are compelled to recite it themselves, or to sing, if this confession is a hymn, in unison with all of God’s people. Now to say the least, it is quite easy to miss the point of Paul’s citation of this primitive but profound creed that we find in the 16th verse.

Notice the first line in the creed. He, that is Christ, was revealed in the flesh, obviously a reference to Christ’s incarnation. Now drop down to the last line of the creed, line 6. He was taken up into glory, obviously a reference to his ascension.

Now these two lines provide the outside parameters of the confession, which seems natural enough since they represent a chronological development from the point of Christ’s entrance into the world in his incarnation to the point of his departure in his ascension.

But in between these parameters, are set four more lines that do not follow the chronological frame of these two outside statements. There’s a certain development in them, to be sure. There’s a certain chronology, but then there is the interruption. Line two.

He was justified in the Spirit. What does that mean? It is a reference to Christ’s resurrection, if you were in a fog as to what was being referred to there. He was justified in the spirit, that is his resurrection. He was beheld by angels also, related to the resurrection, but now as he is revealed to the angels in his glorified body, Line 4, he was proclaimed among the nations.

It seems like we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. Line 5, believe God in the world. We’re certainly getting ahead of ourselves, are we not? But these speak now, lines 4 and 5, about the effects of the preaching of the gospel, effects that come to light only after Christ’s ascension into glory. The very truth that is reserved in the Confession for the last line. taken up into glory. Now you have the question.

Why should these statements about things that happen after the Ascension be placed before the statement that speaks about the Ascension? Why should we hear about Christ being proclaimed among the nations believed on in the world which speaks to us about the progress of the gospel, why should we hear about these things before we hear about the Ascension itself? Why is the Ascension, then, reserved for the end? upon the Church, and upon would-be leaders in the Church.

The intention in the Confession, verse 16, you see, is that nothing is to be left out or excluded from the Lord’s career as our Savior. And it is precisely this point that Paul now pounces upon for the purpose of helping Timothy. You see, by quoting the Confession, certainly one, obviously, that Timothy has recited himself, Paul tells Timothy that every aspect of Christ’s mission Even those aspects that Timothy might be tempted to think depended upon him, like the gospel’s proclamation to the nation for belief in the world, had already been accomplished before Timothy ended up. The citation of the Confession And his recitation of the mystery of godliness in the career of our Savior serves to remind Timothy that his ministry is but an entering into an already completed ministry.

And because that is the case, there is absolutely no place for pride, for self-contradiction, Self-adulation. Self-promotion. There is no place for Timothy seeking his own advantage. He is merely entering into a ministry that is already complete in itself. Even the Gospel’s proclamation to the nations is complete in Christ. We are merely entering into it, and that as a privilege to us by our Lord. So Paul is putting this beloved son in the face. I don’t know that there’s anyone he loves more than Timothy.

He is putting this beloved Son in the faith, gently directing them in this place by subordinating Him, in verse 15, to the Church. Indeed, after the likeness of Christ’s own subordination, by which Christ made Himself a servant, that the Church might be saved. But Paul is also putting his beloved son in the faith in his place by subordinating him to the fullness of Christ’s accomplishment. And that entails not just a following after Christ, but an entering into him that grace may be affirmed and never contradicted. But be clear on this, if Timothy is put in his place, you are put in your place.

For although Paul is speaking here to a pastor, a church leader, In verse 16, he is citing a common confession, one that we all say and affirm, one that we all embrace, lest the least pride be found in any one of us. Indeed, what God would drive out of those who lead, he would drive out of those who are led. But we will start with ourselves, O God, and we will not make excuse. We know, O Lord, that there is that in us that is self-protective, even to the point as sin is conceived and brought to birth, that we seek our own advantage behind a wall that we ourselves have constructed.

But the apostle, your servant, inspired by your spirit, breaks down these walls even with his dear friend, Timothy. That Timothy might see the church as he should, and himself as a minister. But even more magnificently, that he might see himself in Christ. And that all that needs to be done has been done in Jesus. Even the proclamation of the gospel to the ends of the earth. And Timothy’s ministry, and ministry of any true church, is but that of entering in to what is complete in Jesus.

That it all might be of grace. But help each one of us, O God. For we have confessed that we would be led by the Christ, your Son. And therefore, Lord, we would learn humility in all that we do. We plead with you, O God, that in this, what you have commended in your servants who read, may be found also in us.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.