Sermon Tone Analysis

“I hope to come to you soon, but 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.”

[1]

The letter to Timothy takes a decidedly personal turn at this point.

Paul reveals his intent to visit Timothy soon.

We have no indication where the Apostle was when he wrote this particular letter; he includes no clue as to where he is nor even who may have been with him.

However, this particular revelation leads me to believe that matters in Ephesus had become serious—so serious that the Apostle felt it necessary to make plans to travel to the area to address some of the problems.

It also demonstrates Paul’s deep affection for this young servant of God.

However, it is not the relationship between the aged Apostle and the young theologue that now requires our attention, it is the instruction that Paul has provided.

In making this statement, Paul reaches back to include all that he has written both in chapters two and three.

These instructions have been given so that Timothy (and, consequently, all who will follow in the Faith) will know what conduct is pleasing in the sight of the True and Living God.

If we were able to visit the New Beginnings Baptist Church of Ephesus, we would likely conclude that everything was shipshape.

The congregation had a young pastor that appeared to relate well to the people; he had a dynamic message that stirred the passions of those listening.

The congregation had influence throughout the region—the areas surrounding the community knew of their presence and their stance on matters of the Faith.

It was the church to belong to.

However, in less than three decades, this would be the divine assessment delivered by the Risen Master of the congregation.

“I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.

I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.

But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.

If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate” [REVELATION 2:2-6].

Even then, termites were nibbling at the foundations of the congregation; the supporting structure of the church was being weakened.

Churches don’t just one day die; they ignore the introduction of tiny seeds that will grow into noxious weeds that will one day poison the assembly, or they fail to prepare the ground to receive the good seed when it is planted.

Famished because of a lack of sweet pasture, the hungry flock begins to look for nourishment elsewhere.

They drink from polluted wells, contracting serious maladies for which the only cure is radical surgery.

Rushing about to maintain what is, they become too exhausted to reproduce.

Foundations are critical if a church is to survive beyond the present generation.

As a younger man, I played football.

After I had entered graduate school, I still enjoyed watching football and following the various teams.

I suppose my favourite team was the Green Bay Packers.

It was amazing how that team from small town America could win at football.

One major reason Green Bay was a winning football team during the years of my youth was the Hall of Fame coach, Vince Lombardi.

He ensured that the team emphasised fundamentals.

His team won championships because they could block, tackle and execute plays better than any other team.

The story is related of a practise following a disappointing loss by the team.

At practise the day following the loss, Lombardi stood before the team, held up a football and said, “Gentlemen, this is a football.”

He was forcing the team to focus again on fundamentals.

This Letter to Timothy is Paul’s effort to remind Timothy, and through him to remind the Church at Ephesus of fundamentals of church life.

These fundamentals appear to have been forgotten in this day.

While some scholars argue that the entire letter is included in his statement referring to the response of believers in the household of God, it is entirely reasonable to accept that the concerns addressed in chapters two and three are in view.

Accepting these fundamental aspects of congregational life, a church lays a solid foundation for the matters that will be addressed in the final three chapters of the letter.

*THREE DESCRIPTIVE TERMS* — “I hope to come to you soon, but 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.”

The Apostle tells us the reason for his letter.

He is not merely informing Timothy that he intends to come to Ephesus; he want to ensure that Timothy has in hand information that is vital for congregational health.

Paul uses three terms, all referring to the church.

In order to appreciate truly the conduct and confession required of the congregation, we need to understand the apostolic view of the church.

Bear in mind that he is not writing about some amorphous entity that is ill-defined and difficult to comprehend—he is writing to Timothy about the congregation in Ephesus, the church Timothy pastored.

The first term Paul uses is “/the Household of God/.”

This phraseology is more common for Paul than you might imagine.

For instance, writing the saints in the Galatian churches, Paul insists, “As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” [GALATIANS 6:10].

In the Ephesian encyclical, the Apostle has written, “You are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” [EPHESIANS 2:19].

It should be obvious that in the mind of the Apostle, “the household of God” encompasses all the saints gathered in assembly as a congregation.

In this particular instance, the Church in Ephesus is identified as “the household of God.” Just so, this congregation should be seen as “the household of God.”

The congregation is a family—God is the Father and believers are His children.

Therefore, believers are brothers and sisters.

The elders and deacons are given as leaders to assist the family to fulfil the Father’s will and purpose.

We are family; and because we are family, the implications are profound!

We now have a relationship to one another.

This is not a temporal relationship; it is an eternal relationship.

We have one Father, God.

We have one Saviour, Jesus Christ the Righteous.

We have each received the same Spirit, God’s Holy Spirit.

We are born from above, as stated in John’s Gospel.

“To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” [JOHN 1:12, 13].

Through faith in the Risen Son of God, we have become sons of the Living God.

Therefore, we are brothers and sisters.

I know that on occasion we have conflict with fellow believers, and we don’t always seem to be so brotherly or sisterly; however, in Heaven, it will be the redeemed, perfected “household of God” in entirety then.

J. Vernon McGee used to quote a couplet that speaks to this challenge:

To live above with the saints we love

Oh, that will be glory.

To live below with the saints we know,

Well, that’s another story!

Living with saints we know can be challenging, but God’s design is that it should be glorious.

However, the glory resulting from the unity of believers will be witnessed only as we draw close to the Father.

Our relationship to one another is dependent upon our individual relationship to the Father and to the Son.

This is John’s testimony in his First Letter.

“That which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ” [1 JOHN 1:3].

The closer our relationship to the Father, the closer our relationship to one another.

One of the authors that has challenged me and blessed me richly throughout the years of my pilgrimage is A. W. Tozer.

In one of his books, Tozer wrote, “Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other?

They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which one must individually bow.

So one hundred worshipers meeting together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become ‘unity’ conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.

Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified.

The body becomes stronger as its members become healthier.

The whole church of God gains when the members that compose it begin to seek a better and a higher life.”

[2]

The next term the Apostle uses is “/the church of the Living God/.”

Twenty-seven times in the Scriptures is God identified as “the Living God.” Fifteen of those times occur in the Old Testament, and twelve times the term is applied to the Lord God in the New Testament.

Whenever we see the Lord God identified as “the Living God,” our minds turn to the knowledge that He is eternal and He is immortal.

The title testifies that He is the source of life.

We live because He has given us life—we are alive in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This being true, the child of God must not associate with that which is identified as dead or dying; we must not embrace that which is dying.

The attitudes of this world are the attitudes of dead people.

John testifies that “the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” [1 JOHN 2:17].

Because we are “the Church of the Living God, we are responsible to avoid embracing that which contaminates and that which speaks of death.

Paul has written, “What agreement has the temple of God with idols?

For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

‘I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them,

and I will be their God,

and they shall be my people’” [2 CORINTHIANS 6:16].

In Christ, this congregation is “being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” [EPHESIANS 2:22].

“Like living stones [we] are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” [1 PETER 2:5].