Scripture referenced 3 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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Psalm 16:11 quoted in opening prayer about God showing the way of life and granting joy of His presence
11 You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forever more.
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Keep this verse
1 Timothy 3:14-16
the passage being preached, covering how one ought to behave in the household of God and the hymn about Christ
14 These things I write to you, hoping to come to you shortly;
15 but if I wait long, that you may know how men ought to behave themselves in God’s house, which is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
16 Without controversy, the mystery of godliness is great: God was revealed in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, and received up in glory.
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Matthew 6:33
quoted near the close: seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added
33 But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Ray closed out the ecclesiology section of 1 Timothy by walking through just three verses, 1 Timothy 3:14-16, and the ancient hymn embedded in them. The message turned on what it means for the church to be a pillar and buttress of the truth, and on the Christ-centered song Paul places at the heart of that claim.
What was said
Paul's tone shifts in verse 14. After chapters of instructions about overseers, deacons, and conduct in the church, he suddenly turns personal: "I hope to come to you soon." Pastor Ray noted that this is a letter to someone Paul loves, his "true son in the faith," and the personal warmth of it is not incidental. The instructions were never meant to be a cold rulebook dropped from a distance.
The stated reason Paul is writing comes in verse 15. He wants Timothy to have it in writing, so that if Paul is delayed, Timothy can point to something when people ask how the household of God ought to behave. That household, Paul clarifies, is the church of the living God. The description that follows, "a pillar and buttress of the truth," means that how the church actually behaves either holds the truth up or it does not. You can say Jesus loves you all you want, Pastor Ray said, but if you do not act like it, the words do not mean anything.
From there Paul pivots immediately to Christ, which Pastor Ray said was exactly his point: the lists of qualifications were never the heart of it. Christianity is about Christ. The list of "do's and don'ts" serves the larger reality, which is that who we are controls what we do. Faith comes first, and works follow.
Verse 16 contains what scholars agree is a song, though they disagree on its exact structure. Pastor Ray walked through the leading options, chronological, alternating earthly and heavenly, emphatic, and chiastic, without landing hard on any one of them. What he did press was the content: "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." Whatever the structure, the song moves from the incarnation to the ascension and covers the full arc of what Jesus did.
The sermon then opened outward into congregational memory. Pastor Ray asked people to think of a Christ-centered hymn they hold onto in hard or happy times, and names came from all over the room: "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," "Amazing Grace," "Great Is Thy Faithfulness," "How Great Thou Art," "Be Thou My Vision." His own mother's favorite, he said, is "In the Garden." His point was that Paul was doing the same thing with Timothy, handing him something he already knew and saying, "You got this."
Pastor Ray closed by connecting the ecclesiology of the passage to the practice of singing together. Paul's instruction to speak to one another in hymns and spiritual songs, he said, is not decoration. It sticks. The church is where people are grown up in the things of God, and the songs are part of how that happens, passed down from mothers, grandmothers, and the gathered body of believers.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Paul tells Timothy he is writing so that if he is delayed, Timothy will know 'how one ought to behave in the household of God.' What does it mean to you personally that the church is described as a household rather than, say, an organization or an institution?
- Pastor Ray said that who we are controls what we do, and that Christianity is about being first, then doing. Where do you find yourself tempted to reverse that order, trying to do things in order to become something?
and 3 more questions in the guide
Read the full transcript 3,884 words
0:01
Alright, my friends. Hey, good morning to you all. It's good to see you. It really is. I'm I'm I feel very, very fortunate to be able to worship with you every Sunday and to be able to sing with you.
0:12
And where else do we get this opportunity to be able to sing to our God all together in one place? Right here is the time. Now is the time. So what do you say we stand up together and we'll sing crown him with many crowns.
1:20
We
2:32
Amen. Let's pray on that. God, thank you for being our Yahweh, the the self existent one. You have always created. You were there in the beginning.
2:45
Thank you, God, for your eternalness. This is a quality, God, that we can appreciate about you. So thank you for being our big, strong, awesome God, for being full of glory, we can see it. We can see it in in the sunrise. We can see it in the in the smallest ways.
3:04
But I just really, really thank you God for for being who you are. We sing to you because you are worthy. And let's sing. Let's become more aware of your presence. Let's pray together.
11:08
God, you say, in Psalm sixteen eleven that show us the way of life and granting us the joy of your presence and the pleasure of living with you forever. What a promise. Thank you, God, for your presence. And, really, is there anything worth more than having a relationship, with the creator of the universe, with the creator of us that we live and we move and we breathe and we find our purpose in you and in you alone. And until we we we discover that, we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna wander.
11:43
But I pray that you'd continue to steer us back toward us yourself, and thank you, God, for being our good shepherd. You care about us. You care enough to to leave the the 99 to find the one. I pray we wouldn't wander too far. I pray we wouldn't feel like we have to wander because we have all that we need in you.
12:05
Thank you, God, for giving all that you do. I pray that we would hold loosely to the things that you give us, material things, that we'd be looking to store up treasure in heaven because things don't wear out there. And I pray that we would build we'd be building toward that purpose, toward kingdom purposes in every way. Would you show us how to do that? Would you show us how to hold loosely things?
12:33
Not to hold them too tightly, but using things so that it can really build up your kingdom, it can glorify you. And in the process, we are filled up. That's the joy of it all. We're filled up in you. It's not a begrudging submission.
12:49
It's a life giving relationship. Amen. You you all can be seated.
16:40
They comfort me they comfort me
16:51
he comforts me he comforts me The songs today, all of em, I thought, man, that's the greatest hits package, Carl. That's exactly what I was asking for. In Christ alone, come Holy Spirit, you're welcome here and the songs part of the service is the part of the service that usually calms all of my fears about doing this part of the service and getting up and just playing that bass and thinking and hearing y'all sing the affirmations of song are so good and it's also for me, very much tied to home. So, my mom loves to sing. My dad does not love to sing.
17:28
My dad was in the choir exactly one time in in church. I was about two years old, precocious, they said and seated by myself on the front pew and the pastor got up and started to do the announcements and when he started, my dad was in the choir and my mom was in the choir and that was weird and so, I raised my hand and he said, I would not stop. So, when I raised my hand, he said, Ray, do you have a question? Is there something that you need? And I said, can I come up there and sit with my daddy and my mama?
17:59
He said, yeah, come on up. So, I've been singing in the choir since then. I love it. I really love it and the what we're doing today is this, three verses. It's just fourteen, fifteen, 16.
18:10
The verses from first Timothy three. It's a song at the end of verse 16 and then a prayer. We'll close, alright? So, that's it. It's three verses of song and a prayer but I thought that and I've thought through it and I think it's going to be short.
18:23
Tanya says, never say it's going be a short sermon. It gives people false hope, okay? So, I'm going to do the three verses in the song part and then, if you'll be thinking about a song, it's generally a terrible idea when you're speaking to ask people to think about something else but if you'll be thinking about a song that has meant something to you or that you hold on to it in very difficult times or in happy times or in joyous times, think about the words to a song, alright? So, here we go. I hope to come to you soon.
18:52
This is Paul speaking to Timothy. It's very personal. It turns back from instructions for the church. This is how you ought to live. This is how you ought to do things.
19:00
Overseers must be this. Deacons must be this. Wives, women must be that. If you go through all of that and then he goes, I hope to come to you soon. It comes back to the personal nature of this whole correspondence.
19:12
He's writing to Timothy who he loves. His true son in the faith, right? And as he's talking to him, he says, I want to be there. I want to be there. I know.
19:21
I'm sending you this letter. It gives a little bit of the authority that I carry there. They do love me. I know that. They cried on the beach.
19:28
When I went through and just stopped and left But there's a lot going on and he's about to get into a doctrinal section. If you notice the first Timothy three secondtion that we've read so far is not doctrinal. They're characteristics or attributes, qualifications you might say, of overseers and elders, and it's the ideal. This is what we should be like. But it doesn't list your skills.
19:52
It just lists how you are, who you are really. So he comes completely personal all of a sudden. I hope to come to you soon but I'm writing these things and he tells us specifically, I love it when he says specifically, why? 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. The household of God, he uses that term and then, he clarifies it with an apology which is the church of the living God.
20:20
Just in case you're confused about it. The household of God is the church of all peoples that believe in Jesus Christ. The ones that Jesus prayed would be loving one another in unity and that the world may know by our love, who we follow. If I delay, Paul says, I want for you to know how one should behave. Now, of course, Timothy knew it but he's saying, I want you to have it written down.
20:47
I want you to have it right there with you so that you can point to something when they say, how is it then? Because there's a lot of heresy in in chapter four, he goes on to talking about heretics, false teachers. Again, he mentioned them in chapter one. I've mentioned them every time they've come up. Certain persons, certain persons, certain persons, false teachers and then he says, next chapter, there are going to be some who start turning away from it.
21:10
So, this is 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. It doesn't say the pillar and buttress of the truth. The word of God, the people of God, the voice of God, the spirit of God, all of those things are pointing towards the truth of God but we as a household of God, as a church, the church of the living God, how we act, Paul says, in those past few, how we behave is a pillar and a buttress of the truth of scripture. You can say Jesus loves you, Jesus loves you, Jesus loves you, all you want to say it but if you don't act like it, then it doesn't mean anything.
21:55
Does that make any sense? Alright. Is who we are. And I put that kind of in contrast with what we do. Who we are controls what we do.
22:09
Does that make sense? What we believe matters. I say first be BE, right? Period. First, be.
22:19
Then, you do. If you're trying to do so that you can be, that doesn't work. That's faith. It's faith not works. Does that make sense or faith and then works will follow.
22:30
This is who we are. And then he says, mystery again. Great indeed. We confess. We confess it.
22:37
We confess that we don't know it all. Great indeed is the mystery of godliness. Great indeed is the mystery of godliness. I've spent lots of time on Greek words and everything else for the past few weeks. I'm going to skip some of those.
22:55
Great indeed we confess is the mystery of godliness. We're holding on to something that we do not completely understand. Do you get that? Do y'all think you understand it all? Do you think you know it all?
23:07
You won't swap places? I I promise you, if you if you're standing up here, you start scrutinizing everything that you believe, everything that you have heard and you start wondering, is that true? Is that true? Is that true? I don't want to say anything that's not true.
23:22
Great indeed, we confesses the mystery of godliness and then, he goes straight from that. Now, all of this has been about, you know, above reproach, husband of one wife, all of that sort of stuff has been like a list of do's and don'ts and I'm fairly fond of saying Christianity is not a list of do's and don'ts. There are some list of do's and don'ts especially when you're talking about ecclesiology church, how this should happen but Christianity is about Christ It's about Christ Jesus and that's where he goes immediately when he says, great indeed we confess as the mystery of godliness He goes to Jesus. 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. Amen.
24:08
There's no screen over there this time. Did y'all notice that? He's 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. That is a song. Nobody disagrees that that is a song.
24:28
Now, everybody disagrees about exactly what structure lies behind it. You know, when I read commentaries every week and usually the commentaries are, you know, tight pattern. It's an improved choke. Know what I'm saying? It's like this.
24:40
It's not this. But this week, it's everywhere. Everybody's looking at this and going, I think it is chronological manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the spirit. Was he not vindicated by the spirit before the flesh? Let me think.
24:56
Chronological, seen by angels at what point? Is proclaimed among the nations? Okay, chronological works but other people disagree and say it's alternating. Earthly with heavenly. He was manifested in the flesh.
25:10
He's vindicated in the spirit or by the spirit, in the spirit. It's a better translation. Vindicated in the spirit seen by angels proclaimed among the nations on earth. Believed on in the world, taken up in glory. That works too structurally.
25:26
Emphatic, the way that the Greek looks, it is very emphatic. These verbs are manifested, vindicated, seen, proclaimed, believed on, and taken up. That's good. That's nice. Structurally, that works too.
25:44
This thing's not clicking like or is that the end of my slides? Okay. There it is. Chiasic. I was going to say there's at least one more, right?
25:54
There it is. My chiasm, a chiasm, a a chiastic construction. He's manifested in the flesh vindicated by spirits seen by angels proclaimed among the nations and believed on in the world taken up in glory. This angels, the word angels usually is angels like we think of angels but it can also be messengers and this makes sense if you take seen by messengers and proclaimed among the nations as being the central point. He was seen by messengers.
26:24
When he was seen, he was seen and those people had a message to carry and they carried it and we see that from the very moment of his birth that he was seen not just by heavenly angels but by people who started to spread the message. Seen by angels proclaiming mugmets. Okay, that's good. That works too structurally. The whole point of this whole passage though is that it points us in our life and our behavior towards Jesus, towards Christ, towards Jesus.
26:57
That is the last slide this time. So, do you have a crystal centric hymn? Do you? Do you have one that you hang on to? I know you didn't prepare this morning to come in and preach but do you have a line?
27:15
What a friend we have in Jesus. Amen. Steve, when I survey the wondrous cross, on which the prince of glory died, my richest gain, I count but lost and poor contempt on all my pride. Amen. Amazing grace.
27:35
How sweet the sound? Saved a wretch like me. It points to the divinity of God and the grace of God and our absolute abject poverty and humility. Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine.
27:54
Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his spirit, washed in his blood. Amen? Anybody? Amen. Amen.
28:06
Jesus loves me. Amen. Anybody? Great is thy faithfulness. There is no shadow of turning with thee.
28:15
Thou changes not. Thy compassions they fail not. Amen. How deep the father's love for us. Amen.
28:26
Good modern hymn too. That's a modern but it's also a hymn. This hymn, let me back up to it. Blake, can we black up to it? It points to Jesus coming to Earth.
28:43
It points to his justification or vindication in the spirit. Now, he yielded his will perfectly to to the spirit of God at all times and he was manifested in flesh and justified by the spirit of God. Seen by angels. That one, people banded out about about all the time. Where exactly did that happen exactly when?
29:08
It is emphatic though. What's that? At the tomb. Yep. That's right.
29:18
There there are at the tomb definitely. They were seen and lots of people bring up all the different places where angels appear. He will send his angels concerning thee. Anybody else? Wanna give you a chance?
29:37
I won't make this go on all day. Taken up in glory Amen. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. That's the one I thought of reading that this morning. So, My mother's favorite song is In the Garden.
29:59
I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses and the voice I hear falling on my ear the son of God discloses and he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me I am his own and the voice share as we tarry there none other has ever
30:41
Anybody else have a mama's favorite song? That's a lot of em. This is my point. Paul loves Timothy. He loves him and when he throws it out there, he throws it out there for him.
30:56
He's saying, you know this. You remember this? You got this? And later on, he'll say, Lois and Eunice, your mama, your grandmama taught you these things. It's really good to listen to your mama.
31:10
Now, I went back four years and I listened to a sermon that I did one time. Speaking of this, flip this back to here. I have used and quoted lyrics from the following musicians or groups since I have been here. Leonard Skinner on Mother's Day, four years ago, I cannot believe it. I played the whole of the song Simple Man and tried to insist that he was mocking or mimicking James, not mocking, but mimicking the book of James by giving good, motherly advice.
31:41
Leonard Skinner, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Pink Floyd, the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Dylan, the band, Beatles, George Harrison, Steve Ray Baum. Oh, but there's country in there too. George Strait, Helen Jackson, Roy Rogers, Merle Haggard, Don Williams, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Chris Christopherson, why me, lord? We've sung that in the second service. Why me, lord?
32:07
Blues, Blind Willie McTail, BB King, Huddy Ledbetter. I don't always tell you when I'm quoting people but Paul doesn't either. Paul just throws it in there and he has a song in there. Woody got three T bone, Burnett, Carole King, James Taylor, James Brown, Dave Mason. I think of Dave Mason all the time for one song.
32:25
There ain't no good guys. There ain't no bad guys. There's only you and me and we just disagree. In marriage counseling, that one comes up a lot. Peaches and Herf, reunited.
32:37
That's right after that. Reunited. It feels so good, all right? That one comes up a lot. George Clinton and the P Funk All Stars, Parliament.
32:46
The Reverend Al Green, oh. But Ira Sankey, Fannie Crosby, Charles Wesley, John Wesley, Mosley Lister, Gaitham Vocal Band, Patsy Cline, Almond Brothers, Doobie Brothers. Jesus is just alright with me. Yeah. If he's just alright, keep coming.
33:01
Come on. He's more than just alright, okay? Jesus is awesome. He did everything that was necessary. Everything that was necessary to take the punishment that you deserve.
33:14
Does that make sense? Everyone in this room will either be justly condemned or mercifully forgiven.
33:22
By the blood of Jesus, you can be
33:24
mercifully forgiven. Merle Haggard song is Mama Tried to Raise Me Right, But I Refused, right? And then there's one Sunday where I used to song. That's I don't you don't see many pop tunes in there but magic has one. Why you gotta be so rude that I shared during the section on what to do with your daughters in Corinthians.
33:50
Yeah. Not going to happen again. I'm not going to venture into the pop scene very often. Music has a profound effect on our lives. I see our friend Conway is here with us this morning.
34:04
He loves this song, Children of the Living God. It's his favorite song. We've recorded it as a band for him. I wonder when you play the same songs over and over and over again, sometimes you just go, oh yeah, that's one. Yahweh Yahweh, we used to play all the time.
34:19
We played it for the first time in a long time today and we got into the place of going, yeah. And kind of forgetting what we meant, kind of forgetting what it's saying. Yahweh, Yahweh, the self existent one. We love to shout your name. We're glad that we can call out to you because you answered, lord.
34:37
Children of the living God, come and sing. Sing out loud. Children of the living God. Sing to the living God. Sing of the wonders he has made.
34:48
Bird and flight, fallen rain. Sing of the wonders he has made. Sing to the living God. How he loves us with great love. He who sits enthroned above for our lives.
35:01
He spilled his blood. Send his spirit like a flood. Children of the living God, sing to the living God. God is good and we need to keep telling each other about it. Sing spiritual songs.
35:26
Speak to one another in hymns and spiritual songs. Paul says it for a reason because it sticks. Anybody else have a song you wish you'd said already? Rock of ages, cleft for me. Oh, beautiful song.
35:42
Amen. Are you washed in the blood? That's a great one too. Good invitation hymn. Yes, ma'am.
35:50
How great thou art? Be thou my vision, oh Lord of my heart. Oh, yeah. You've got these. Do you sing em in your head?
36:00
All day long? Yeah, I do. I think we're wrapping up. This is a short sermon. Would you all stand up?
36:10
I'm going to get the band back up here. Sing it if you believe it. There's a there's a there's a verse that says, let the redeemed of the Lord say so, okay? Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. So, say what it is that you believe.
36:33
If you don't believe it, you don't have to sing it. Stand there and pray. Stand there. Just open yourself up to see if God will speak. Listen, and speak.
36:56
Our father everlasting
37:03
we're
37:07
to
37:12
And
37:15
name
37:20
Holy Spirit. Our God is three in one. I believe in the resurrection, and we will rise again. For I believe in the name of
39:35
this has been fairly nostalgic for me to think about my mom, think about the song she's telling, my grandmother, all the songs that she's saying and I know that that's not true for all of y'all. I know that you some of you grew up in houses where your mama was not a believer, maybe not a singer, maybe not somebody who thought a lot about the things of God and that's okay. You can be. You can be. God our father and it's unpopular these to say it but the church, our mother.
40:06
There are a lot of folks way back when that said, you cannot have God for your father unless you have the church for your mother. That make sense? We are grown up and we are grown up and we are grown up in the things of God if we are with the people of God. So, this is an ecclesiology in this passage about being the household of God, being the church of the living God. This is how you get to be that.
40:32
Seek the kingdom of God above all else and he'll give you everything that you need. Seek you first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added up to you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. In Jesus name, would you go and be blessed this week?
40:46
Amen.
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