The Pillar And Support Of Truth

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THE PILLAR AND SUPPORT OF TRUTH

I Timothy 3:15

I.     THE CHURCH HAS A GLORIOUS NAME - "The Church of the living God."

A.       It is called the Church. What is a church? It is an assembly; and a Christian Church is an assembly of faithful people; of people who know the truth, believe the truth, affirm the truth, and adhere to the truth. The Greek word signifies an assembly summoned out of the whole population to exercise the right of citizenship. An ecclesia, or Church, is not a mob, nor a disorderly gathering rushing together without end or purpose, but a regular assembly of persons called out by grace, and gathered together by the Holy Spirit. Those persons make up the assembly of the living God.

B.     But the title becomes meaningful when we read it as "the Church of God." There is a synagogue of Satan, and there is a Church of God. There are so-called churches which are not of God, though they claim His name; but what an honor it is to be one of the assembly of God, to be one of those whom God has chosen, whom God has called, whom God has quickened, whom God has sanctified, whom God loves and calls His own. How honored is that assembly in which He resides.

C.     It is "the Church of the living God," not the congregation of the world. The Ephesian pagans had built a temple of Diana, the goddess of love, which they believed to have fallen from heaven. Paul wants us to understand that he is not speaking of the church of the lifeless statue Diana, but the church of the true and living God. What was Diana of the Ephesians? What life or power was in that senseless block of stone? Timothy knew that the assembly which gathered in the name of Diana was not called out by a living god. It is a glorious fact that our God, the God of the Church, lives and reigns, and that He shows His life all around us. We see Him sustaining nature, ruling providence, and reigning in the midst of His Church; and we not only see Him, but we love Him. What does the person who has never been quickened by the Spirit of God to do with the church? if you are dead in trespasses and sins, what have you to do with the Church of the living God? The person who is dead in trespasses and sins has no fellowship in the church of the living God because…

II. THE CHURCH IS DESIGNED IN REFERENCE TO GOD. Paul speaks of the Church of the living God as the house of God.

A.     I suppose we understand by the Church being God's house, that it is the place where truth is learned. We are to worship God in Spirit and Truth. As the Old Testament Temple was the holy place to which the children of Israel went up in pilgrimage, the place towards which they opened their windows when they prayed, and the place of the one altar and the one sacrifice; so now the Church of God is the sole place of God's truthful worship. He is spiritually worshipped nowhere else the way He is in the church. It is no good for the ungodly to dream of worshipping the living God because they have not grasped the essence of truth. The first essential to one’s acceptance is that one accepts God’s truth.

B.     But it is better still to get away from the ceremonious idea of a temple to the more familiar thought of a house built on truth. The Lord makes the Church the place of His indwelling. The Old Testament prophecy, "I will dwell in them and walk in them," is fulfilled in the church. God calls His Church a house in the sense of His residing there. Of the Church we read, "God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved."

C.     A man not only lives in his own house; he could do that in any hotel. But he feels at home in his own house, and therefore it is the place where he lets his hair down and shows who he really is. There he is intimate with the family. At home he is one of them; at home you see the man, the father, the husband; you see his heart and soul. And in the same way, God is not seen in the entire universe with the degree of clearness that He is beheld in the midst of His people. The Lord God is more discernible in the church than in all the works of creation. A man's house is also the place of his paternal rule, In the Church we are under the present rule of our heavenly Father. In the Church of God you will see this clearly.

D.    Once again, it is for his own house that a man works and spends his strength; it is the object of his choicest purposes. If a man shall travel the sea and land to gain gold, it is for his house. If he should rise up early and sit up late and eat the bread of carefulness, it is still for his house. And so God rules all things for His chosen family, and the end and the design of all divine intervention, if we were to trace it to its ultimate object, is the good of them that love God, and are the called according to His purpose. Therefore, we cannot leave this point without observing how holy, then, should all members of the Christian Churches be! "Holiness becomes the house of God." If we are a part of the house of God, it should be our joy to submit ourselves to the Master of the house.

III. THE CHURCH IS DESIGNED IN REFERENCE TO THE TRUTH. Paul compares the church to a pedestal and its support. The temple of Diana, at Ephesus, was adorned with more than a hundred columns of breathtaking size. They were mostly of Parian marble, and were either furnished by the various cities of Asia as offerings to the goddess, or were contributed by wealthy men and princes. These pillars are said to have been immense monoliths: single stones of sixty feet in height, and they were set upon a support which was elevated ten steps above the surrounding area. Diana had her pillar and her support, but she had no pillar or support of truth, hers was all a fake throughout. Now, Paul calls the Church of God the support and pillar of the truth. What does he mean? Notice, that Diana is not the creator of the truth, or the inventor and fashioner of doctrine. Let it be remembered also, that the figure must not be pushed beyond what it was meant to teach. In a certain sense the Church cannot be the pillar and ground of the truth. Truth is true of itself, and owes its origin to God Himself and the nature of things. The Church is not here described as the deepest foundation of the truth, for the support of the pillar of truth rests on a rock, and the Church rests on Christ, the Rock of ages. But truth in itself is one thing, and truth as existing in the world is another thing. The proverb is true, but truth never prevails till some living mind believes it, vindicates it, and proclaims it abroad. The person who thus takes up a grand truth, declares it, fights for it, and makes it known, may be very properly called the pillar and the basis of the cause; for the spread of the principle depends upon him. We may say of the Reformation, Luther was its pillar and support; or of Methodism the same might be said of Wesley. Note how in another place Paul says that James and Cephas and John seemed to be pillars; that is to say, they were upholders of the good cause. Notice that the text speaks of "the Church of God," meaning all the people of God, and not just the preachers. What does the expression, the pillar and support, mean?

A.     I think it means, that in the Church the truth should abide. In the Church of the living God it always does abide, even as a pillar does not move from its place. In the confession of the Church made by each one of her members, in the teaching of her ministers, and in the witness of the whole body, truth will be found at all times. The Church of God is not the quicksand of the truth, but the pillar and pedestal of it: she is not the floating island of the truth, but the eternal column of it.

B.     It means that in the true Church the truth is uplifted as upon a pillar. Truth not only rests there as a pedestal, but it stands upright as a pillar. It is the duty and the privilege of the Church of God to exalt the truth into the open view of all mankind. Possibly you may have seen the column of Trajan, or the column in the Place Vendome in Paris; these may serve as illustrations. Around these shafts you see the victories of the conqueror pictured in relief, and lifted into the air, that all may see them. Now, the Church of God is a pillar which lifts up and publishes, far and wide, the achievements of our conquering Lord, Jesus Christ.

C.     Again, a Church is intended by God to set forth the truth with beauty; for in a temple pillars and columns are meant for ornaments as well as for service. God's service should be formed in the beauty of holiness.

D.     Once more, it is the Church's business to maintain the truth with all her might. She is set as a brazen wall and an iron pillar against all error.

The truths which may be derived from the text are of one order.

1. The whole Church is to maintain the truth.

The Princeton Religion Research Center has measured the impact of religion on day-to-day work. Comparing the "churched" with the "unchurched" on a wide range of behaviors like pilfering supplies (stealing), overstating qualifications on resumes (lying), calling in sick when not sick (lying and stealing), and overstating tax deductions (lying, stealing, and cheating), the center finds "little difference in the ethical views and behavior of the churched and the unchurched." What differences there are "are not significant or are of marginal significance."

2. Next, remember that a Church is unchurched when it is not faithful to the truth.

Faith and works should travel side by side, step answering to step, like the legs of men walking. First faith, and then works; and then faith again, and then works again—until they can scarcely distinguish which is the one and which is the other.

3. Next, note that any Church fails in her design as being the pillar and pedestal of the truth when she departs from the truth.

Dr. John A. Howard, president of Rockford College, said: “I invite you to take a little card and put it on your mirror or display it in some prominent place where it can serve as a daily reminder. I suggest that you inscribe on that card that phrase, ’Truth is outraged by silence. ’

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