Instruction to Believers II
1 Timothy 3:14-16
Background
Paul is absent from Timothy hoping to join him
Completes a thought of how the church should be from chs. 2-3
Pauses to state the purpose of his writing this letter
Exactly what the church should be identified as… (3:15)
Household of God
o Family of God
o God’s authority over the church
o Behavior of God’s people within the church
Church of the “living God”
o Presence of God in a Community of Believers
o Gathering together where God clearly manifests himself
o Worship of a living God, not a dead being
“Church” is the “pillar” & “foundation” of the Truth
o Duty of the church to “Tell” friends about the gospel
o Role of advancing the gospel into our individual “worlds”
o Protect the integrity of the Gospel of Christ by standing firm
Instruction for this body of Christ concerning the “mystery of godliness” (3:16)
Proclaim to your world’s Christ crucified
Believe on His resurrection
Exalt Christ in all you do
The modern-day gospel says, “God loves you and has a plan for your life. Therefore, follow these steps, and you can be saved.” Meanwhile, the biblical gospel says, “Your are an enemy of God, dead in your sin, and in your present state of rebellion, you are not even able to see that you need life, much less to cause yourself to come to life. Therefore, you are radically dependent on God to do something in your life that you could never do.”
What needs to be done about it?
Who I am?
o Hopeless of our sinful condition
o Spiritually dead
o Hell-bound
o In need of something greater than ourselves
o In need of protection from all the evil attacking us
o We need Jesus to pull us out of our sin-driven, evil-focused, Hell-bound life
Closing Thoughts:
Maintain a healthy view of where true holiness comes
Understand the proper view of who the glorious Son of God is
Just quoting a prayer does not save; we must “Believe”
Don’t forget who took away the terrible wrath of God from you
Understand the Right response to God:
God’s gift of grace involves the gift of a new heart. New desires. New longings. For the first time, we want God. We see our need for him, and we love him. We seek after him, and we find him, and we discover that he is indeed the great reward of our salvation. We realize that we are saved not just to be forgiven of our sins or to be assured of our eternity in heaven, but we are saved to know God. So we yearn for him. We want him so much that we abandon everything else to experience him. This is the only proper response to the revelation of God in the gospel.
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:44-45
