YouTube video tFzv5WiydqM

Thank you. Good evening. Good morning.

Wrong one. Sorry about that. Good morning.

Welcome to worship today at Ebenezer Presbyterian Church. It's blessing to have all of you here and especially to welcome our visitors today. Happy Father's Day to all the dads in our congregation.

We pray that you have a an extra special day today and that uh that you enjoy your time uh if you're able to with your family. Uh please take the friendship pads if you would. They're on the outside of the rows and fill in that information that they asked for and pass them down so that others can do the same.

If you are a guest today for the first time and uh have not uh or if you wouldn't mind plead please include your email address and that way we have an opportunity just to reach out to you a little bit later on this week and uh say hello and thank you for coming and being a part of this time. There are a few announcements just a couple that I really want to highlight. Um most of them you can look at on your own but uh one of them is uh prayers for our youth ministry.

Uh our junior high just got back uh from Bon Clark uh this week uh after a week at uh at Quest and uh this week we have our senior high and they're going to be going to Bon Clark for Horizon. Um just a reminder uh to be praying for our youth that this is a an informative time and a and a formative time for them in their faith and their walk with Christ. Uh we pray for those who do not know Christ that they might be led uh to saving faith in him at that time.

Uh but also uh thankful uh thankfulness to uh the volunteers we have in our church. Um Will, our youth director, uh is brand new coming on and I know he appreciates especially uh having so many folks who are willing to give so generously of their time uh to our youth and to our children's ministry. and uh that doesn't go unnoticed and we do appreciate uh you uh who volunteer so much and help and uh let's keep them in our prayers as well.

The other announcement has to do with the blood drive which is coming up on uh Monday, July 13th. That will be here at uh the church in the gym behind me uh the time 2 to 6:00 pm. And uh if you would like to sign up for that, there's a QR code and you can uh do it easily that way.

Let's take a moment now and let's prepare our hearts to worship the Lord. Hallelujah. invite you to stand together.

Our call to worship this morning comes to us from Psalm 100 verses 4 and five. Enter the gates of the Lord with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him.

Bless his name. >> For the Lord is good. His steadfast love endures forever and his faithfulness to all generations.

Let's pray. Oh gracious and almighty God, again we gather together this day on your day. Together as your body to come and to worship and glorify you.

For you are the God above all gods, the King above all kings, the Lord above all lords. You are the one and the only that is worthy of our worship. And oh God, we have gathered today to give you just that.

And Lord, as you have brought us together, may you help us then to worship you in spirit and in truth. May your spirit move might mildly among each and every one of us here today. Open our hearts and our minds to help us intentionally give you the glory and praise you deserve.

May your spirit move in us that we too would be blessed that we be drawn closer to you. That we would be equipped to go out complete for every good work. Lord, may this be a time of blessing for all.

And may this be a time where you and you alone get all the glory, the honor, and the praise that you and you alone deserve. Accept our praise as pleasing in your sight. We pray in Jesus name.

Amen. Our first hymn this morning is number one found in the hymnbook. And in this song, I would have you in the last verse, we're crying out to God of why we worship him.

He is the one that is good. His mercy is forever. His truth is at all times.

He shall be one one that will endure from age to age. So may we now worship our God as we sing together him one all people that on earth do dwelling to the Lord. His cheerful Glory.

and for his name is praise and bless glory. Let me sing this song to you. Praise to God.

As we've gathered together today, we come as those that have been brought together by the Lord Jesus Christ, confessing the God in whom we believe, the God who is the father. Consider that for a moment. We have a heavenly father that loves us, that cares for us, that has provided a way of salvation for us, that we can come to with all things and be assured that he will take care of us.

And what a blessing it is to know that this God is indeed our father in heaven. And may you be reminded of that as we confess who our God is together. I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontious Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell.

The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. May be seated.

If we consider who God is, he is perfect. He is holy. He is just.

And he is merciful. But in order for someone to be merciful, there must be an act, an act of sin. Because mercy is not giving to someone what they deserve.

And as a father, there have been plenty of times where I have been merciful to my son. And as you parents have been merciful to your children, they deserve it. And yet you show them mercy.

And if we stop and we consider ourselves for a moment, how often have we broken the Lord's commands? How often have we done it willingly? How often have we been those that are disobedient, ungrateful, prideful, willful, and yet our God has shown us mercy in Jesus Christ.

how unfathomable that truth is. But in order to experience that mercy, we must first recognize our sin, we must confess we are sinners in his sight and turn to Christ as our only hope. And even after coming to faith, we continue to see our brokenness and can still turn to our God for mercy as we still continue to confess our sin.

And so in this time may we go before our God confessing our sin looking to his mercy first as individuals and then together as a body. Let's pray. Join me in prayer.

Almighty God, rich in mercy to all who call upon you in faith, please hear us as we come to you, humbly confessing our sins and transgressions and imploring your mercy and forgiveness. We have broken your holy laws by our deeds, our words, and the sinful affections of our hearts. We confess before you our disobedience and ingratitude, our pride and willfulness, and all our failures and shortcomings against you and others.

Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father, and of your great goodness. Grant that we may walk in newness of life through the merit and mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

And for those that would confess their sin, we can be assured of forgiveness found in Isaiah 58 and9. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together.

Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God helps me.

Who will declare me guilty? We are innocent by the blood of Christ. And what a wonderful reason to sing and stand together the praise of God as we sing He Will Hold Me Fast.

Christ will hold me when he will hold me fast. I could never leave my thior. Your love will hold me in his holy sight.

He will hold me He not let my soul bec. He will be holding God. Christ will hold me fast.

Justice has been he will hold me to him. He will hold us till our turn to come. He will hold me.

He will hold me for myior loves me. He will hold me fast. He will hold me fast.

He will hold me. For myior loves me. He will hold me fast.

Amen. May be seated. Our Old Testament reading this morning comes to us from Psalm 110.

You found on your Pew Bibles in page 51. Here now, God's word, a Psalm of David. The Lord says to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your foottool." The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter.

Rule in the midst of your enemies. Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power and holy garments. For in the womb of the morning, the dw of your youth will be yours.

The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind. You are a priest forever after the order of Melkisedc. The Lord is at your right hand.

He will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses. He will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.

He will drink from the brook by the way. Therefore, he will lift up his head. The word of God for the people of God.

Thanks be to God. Sing to the Lord. Bless his holy name.

Sing to the Lord. Hallelujah. Sing to the Lord.

Bless his holy name. Shout to the Lord. Shout to the Lord.

Hallelujah. Shout to the Lord. Joy to the Lord.

Shout to the Lord. Shout to the Lord. Praise the Lord.

Praise for all. All his words of thanksgiving we glory to the Lord to the Lord to the Lord. Sing to the Lord.

Sing to the Lord. Sing to the Lord. Sing to the Lord.

We've gathered you again today and we go before our great God in prayer. Oh gracious and merciful God, again we come before you today and we thank you that there is no limit when it comes to praying to you. Lord, we can come to you wherever we might be, whatever we are going through an infinite number of times, and we can know that you hear us and know that you answer us according to your will.

And we can trust in your sovereign care no matter what is going on in our life. Lord, what a rest, what a repose we can have in you that we can find nowhere else. And oh God, what a blessing it is that we can know this because you are our heavenly father.

Lord, we thank you that we can come to you and know that you love us, that you are caring for us, providing for us even when we are unsure what is going on. Just as a child depends fully on their father here on earth, we are reminded that we depend fully upon you. That you are the one that gives us our daily bread.

The one that has provided us our jobs, the food upon our table, the vehicles, the homes, the clothes, and so much more. You are the God that forgives our sins and helps us to forgive others. You are the God that leads us not to temptation but also delivers us from evil.

Lord, in you we find all of our needs are met. And we can know that they are met because you indeed are our loving father who sent your only son into this world that we sinners though we are might call you our father by the work of Christ that we who were once rebels and outsiders have been adopted into your family as your sons and daughters looking to you for encouragement for hope for help wherever we might be and resting securely in your loving arms and knowing that you are a God that has provided for us in this each and every day as well as a a father that we can come to with all manners of things in our prayers and here today Lord we pray that you would be with our high schoolers Lord as they embark to go to Bon Clark tomorrow we pray that you would be with them the entire way to and from Lord that you would give them safe travels, Lord. That you would give them open hearts this week, Lord.

Not only may you keep them safe physically, but keep them safe spiritually. For all the temptations that we have are still there, but Lord, may this be a week where they set those temptations aside by your spirit. They grow closer to you.

And Lord, may you continue the good work that you have done in them this week. And Lord, may you continue to work in them as they come back down the mountain on Saturday. But Lord, may your blessing be upon each and every one of these students and their leaders.

And may all that transpires there be for your glory and for the good of all those that attend. And oh God, as we think of you as our heavenly father, we cannot help but thank you for our earthly fathers. We thank you for the men that you have put in our life that have set godly examples to us.

Whether it be our biological father, a stepfather, an uncle, a grandfather, the dad of a friend, and the many other father figures that didn't have to be. Lord, we are thankful for all of them. And Lord, may you continue to help us men who are here today, be a loving father figure to those around us.

Whether it be our own children, our nieces, nephews, students, as we are reminded, all the covenant children here, may we love them as you love us, pouring into them and pointing them to you in all things. God for our fatherly duty is not only to provide for our family physically through our hard work and labors that the food would be on the table that our families be cared for but also that we would lead spiritually. And oh God we know today that we live in a world that lacks much spirituality but that may that not be so of the men here today.

May you help each and every one of us to be those that are continuously pointing the children in our care to you. Help us to show the importance of spending time with you in prayer in Bible reading and family devotion. Help these men that are called to lead lead in a way that is honoring and glorifying to you.

or that the fruit of their labors might not only be that their children grow strong and are successful in life, but ultimately that you would use them to point their children to you that they might come to saving faith. For that is the ultimate need of all of us here. And so as fathers, may we seek to meet that ultimate need by pointing them to the one that can meet that need where even we cannot, the Lord Jesus.

And oh God, we come here today and we have many other things upon our hearts. But we entrust them all to you. And in those moments we are unsure of what to pray, we can always pray the prayer you taught your disciples praying.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.

and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen. This time any children four years old or in kindergarten that would like to are dismissed to children's church as we all remain seated giving our tithes and offerings back to our God as we sing number 521. My hope is built on nothing less.

City. I to all people. to be forever.

We glor and glory. to be glor. Let's turn in our Bibles to our sermon text this morning.

It's from 1 Timothy 3:es 14 and 15. If you're using one of the Pew Bibles, you're going to find that on page 992. You will notice that we are skipping over verses 1 through13 where Paul addresses the qualifications for church officers.

That would be the overseers of the church who are also called the elders along with the deacons. And this section naturally follows chapter 2 8-15 which we looked at a couple of weeks ago. There the Apostle Paul gives the instruction that men alone are permitted to teach and to exercise authority in the church.

These are the functions of church leadership. And Paul bases his command not on the cultural standards of his time or on any deficiency in women. Rather, he bases this on the order that God has designed into the creation itself.

Now, the reason I'm skipping over verses 1 through13 is because I preached on them just back in January. And so if you're so inclined, you can go online and find those sermons. It's also not surprising that Paul would address the subject of church leadership in light of the false teachers that we saw back in chapter 1 who were disrupting the church at Ephesus.

As I've mentioned before, it is quite possible, if not likely, that some of these false teachers were actually elders in the church. And so Paul spells out for Timothy the qualifications that he should look for in those men whom he will appoint to lead in these ways. It has been said that the church of Jesus Christ does not progress beyond the spiritual progress of its leaders.

That is quite true. Leaders are not merely thermometers that determine the temperature. Rather, leaders in the church are thermostats that set the church's temperature.

And by their faith, by their piety, by their godly example, they can establish the spiritual climate in which Christ is exalted, in which the gospel thrives, in which men and women, boys and girls are discipled to spiritual maturity in Christ. Now, this morning, we're going to move into these verses 14 and 15. And originally I had planned to include 16, but in my preparation I realized that I would not be able to give 16 uh the coverage it deserves.

So we're going to focus on that very important verse uh next week. But this week we'll look at 14 and 15. Let's begin first in prayer.

Our sovereign Lord, it is always such a privilege to gather as your people to hear you speak to us by your word. We confess though that we are dull of heart and we are dull of mind. We are like children who have eaten so much candy that we have lost our appetite for food of substance.

Would you please forgive us? Affect our taste that we would crave the rich marrow of your word. Help us to inwardly digest it.

that we would be not just hearers of the word, but that we would be those who do it and use your word as it is read and preached to bring light and life through Jesus Christ to those who are perishing and to edify your people by growing them in holiness. We pray all this in our savior's mighty name. Amen.

Chapter 14 or chapter uh three rather beginning in verse 14. Listen now to God's word. Paul writes, "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 grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God endures forever. Amen. I have a confession to make.

I love the church. And I say that not just because I'm a pastor and I'm supposed to love the church. I genuinely do love the church.

As far as I can remember, I always have. I grew up as a covenant child and a member of the Presbyterian Chapel in the Grove in Lakeland, Florida. In our house, when it came to worship, as well as other church activities, there was never a question of will we or won't we, can we, or should we, those questions had been settled long, long before.

Pretty much if the church doors were open, the Allisonens were there. Ours was a small church, probably never much more than a hundred or so in worship, but the size of the church made it possible for me to know just about everyone in it. There was Mr.

Perry, affectionately called the bubblegum man by the kids because he always had a piece of gum for you before the service. Looking back now, I don't think Mr. Perry was near as popular with the parents as he was with the children.

There was Mr. Rubling and his famous ice cream that everyone looked so forward to at the family night suppers, especially nice on those hot summer nights in July when the church would gather together. There was Mrs.

stites who had kept me when I was just a little one in the nursery. Years later, when I was a seminary student and I was home assisting in the worship service, I was leading in a responsive reading and I lost my place. I had to admit, I don't know where I am.

And she spoke up from the congregation and said, "That's okay, honey. We're on line three. I love the church.

Growing up, I never once heard my parents speak poorly of the church, though I'm certain there were issues, as there are in every congregation. Early in my ministry, at a time when there was some sort of conflict, I don't even remember what it was, but some conflict in the church I was pastoring and some of the people were at odds. I remember saying to my mom, "Why can't folks be more like they are at the chapel where people never argue?" And I remember her smiling and looking at me and saying, "Is that what you think?" I guess I was naive, but it was because my parents never poisoned me with a critical spirit toward the church.

Having served now as a pastor for a number of years, my love for the church is better informed, but it is no less fervent. I am always saddened when I hear people make a statement such as, "I love Jesus, but I'm not so fond of the church." We must understand that ultimately that is calling for a disconnect that biblically is not warranted and Jesus does not permit. Christ is the head of the church and we are his body and the two can never be separated.

Now, there are of course various reasons why people might make a statement such as that. And one of those we have to acknowledge is that some people have had a painful experience in a church. And depending on what happened, the wounds from those experiences can run very deep.

But while the temptation may be to give up on the church, Christ in his providence has ordained that his healing mercies be administered to us through his church. For it is in the church that we hear the gospel confirm not only the sinfulness of others, but our own sinfulness that requires no less the blood of Christ to wash us clean. It is in the church that we practice the gospel.

Learning to live out all those divine qualities of patience and kindness, of mercy, forbearance, grace, forgiving one another as God in Christ has forgiven us. And it's in the church that we experience the gospel and its healing balm through the kind and generous hands of others who act in his name. To those who have been wounded in the church, well, your experience in one congregation may not have been so good.

I would simply ask you, please do not paint the whole church, every church with the same broad brush. There is no perfect expression of the visible church, this side of Christ's return. But there are many faithful expressions where Christ's spirit dwells with grace and power.

Now, in our text this morning, Paul introduces us to three helpful descriptions of the church. As we consider them, I hope they will expand our understanding of and our appreciation for what the church is and what the church does. Paul begins in verse 14 by telling Timothy of his plans.

He writes, "I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that if I delay, when Paul instructed Timothy in chapter 1:3 to remain in Ephesus and provide pastoral leadership to that congregation, it was always with the intention that Paul would soon return and join Timothy in that effort." He says so again in chapter 4:13. And yet Paul was fully aware that he might be providentially delayed in his plans and he did not want Timothy to wait in addressing some of these problems in the Ephesian congregation. Weather conditions could delay Paul as well as poor health.

Travel at that time could be quite dangerous. There was always the possibility Paul could be delayed by imprisonment for preaching the gospel. He might also find another church with pressing concerns that required his immediate attention.

Because of these potential delays, Paul put pen to paper and under the direction of the Holy Spirit, he wrote down these instructions for Timothy. And how blessed we are that he did. We benefit no less than Timothy did from these pastoral letters that give clear and practical instruction for the church at all times.

For it is in these letters that we learn as Paul writes in verse 15 how we ought to behave in the church. The word behave describes what we might call a person's walk and conversation. It speaks to one's whole life and character.

And the setting Paul particularly has in mind here is the church, the fellowship of God's people. Interestingly, back in 1939, the German theologian Dedric Bonhoffer was thinking the same thing when he wrote a helpful book titled Life Together, in which he reflected upon Christian community and what it means for believers to live together under the lordship of Jesus Christ. The book grew out of Bonhaofer's experience leading an underground seminary at a time when the German government was cracking down on the confessing church.

He writes, "Between the believer and believer, there stands Christ." In other words, within the body, it is Christ who mediates our relationships with each other and defines how those relationships are expressed under his headship and authority. And so, the purpose of Paul's pastoral letter is to provide practical guidance for life together in the body of Christ. He speaks to such things as worship, the roles of men and women, church leadership, the proper care of widows, dealing with those who fall away, and several other things.

What I want to focus on right now are these three descriptions of the church that Paul gives us in verse 15. They are the household of God, the church of the living God, and a pillar and buttress of the truth. Let's start with the first one.

The household of God. Greek word that's translated here is house is oos. It's a word that typically is used for a structure or a building.

In the Old Testament, both the tabernacle and the temple or spoken of as God's house or God's dwelling. But in the New Testament especially, the idea of a house extends beyond a structure to describe a people, namely God's people. And we read this in for instance 1 Peter chapter 2:es 4 and 5.

says this, "As you come to him, that is Jesus, a living stone, rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." Here we see that God's house is actually a household, not bricks and mortar, but men and women, boys and girls. The same is expressed in Hebrews 3:es 5 and 6, which says, "Now Moses was faithful in all of God's house as a servant to testify to the things that were to be spoken later. But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son." And hear it.

And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting and our hope. So while it is not wrong to speak of a sanctuary like this as God's house, the true house of God is not so much a building, but rather it is the people. It is God's people redeemed in Christ, united in worship and scattered to witness.

Some of you may know the name of Richard Halverson. For several years, he was the chaplain to the United States Senate. He was also the senior pastor of the fourth Presbyterian Church in Bethesda, Maryland.

In his book, The Body, Chuck Coulson recounts an experience that Halverson had that he communicated to Coulson. One evening, when Halverson was returning on a flight to Washington, DC, the approach path to Reagan National Airport happened to pass directly over Fourth Presbyterian Church. And Halverson looked out the window to catch a glimpse of the building from the air, but everything on the ground was shrouded in the shadows falling upon the city at sunset.

He could not find the church. He could see the Washington skyline, the Ptoac River, Georgetown. He could see the White House, the Labor Department, the Capitol Dome.

And as he looked over the landscape, he began to mentally tick off the names of members of his congregation who worked in those office buildings, in those government bureaus, men and women that he had equipped to live out their faith in Christ in that context. And then it suddenly hit him. Of course, he exclaimed to the man sitting next to him.

There it is, Fourth Presbyterian Church. The church wasn't marked by a sanctuary or a steeple. Coulson writes, "The church was spread throughout Washington.

In the homes and in the neighborhoods and in the offices below him, thousands of points of light illuminating the darkness. Church is not so much the buildings that dot a city's landscape. In fact, those buildings can easily become idols.

The church is the people that are gathered to worship and scattered to witness to the Lord Jesus Christ and the good news found in him. Now, if the church is the household of God, then we who make up that household are what? We are family, the church.

Those who have been born again of God's spirit are received by him as his adopted children. We are filled with the spirit and empowered to cry out to him as our father. Christ Jesus himself, the father's only begotten son is our elder brother.

And we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul says, one to another. But let me ask you, do you ever have squables with your biological siblings?

Do you always see eye to eye with them on every point? Are there never ever words that are spoken or things that are done less than kind that require forgiveness? If your family is like most, I suspect the answer is yes.

Should we then be shocked that in the life of God's family made up of sinners saved by grace, but sinners no less, that there are points of tension as well. That's not to excuse sinful behavior, but it does force us to view the church realistically. Jesus does the same in Matthew chapter 18 when he gives instructions for what to do when family members in the household of God sin against one another and to have a mature understanding of the church is to realize this life together is not always easy as one person said to live above with the saints we love oh what will be glory to live below with the saints we know.

Well, that's another story. This is why Paul provides us with on all those one another statements that we find in his letters. I won't mention all of them, but here's a sampling.

Know that each has a chapter and verse for it. Regarding one another, we are to love, live in harmony with, bear with, be kind to, tenderhearted toward, and forgiving. We are to welcome, comfort, serve, bear the burdens, encourage, build up, stir up, exhort, and pray for.

Conversely, we are not to bite and devour, provoke or envy, speak evil of or against another. That is quite a collection. And while none of us will keep those commandments perfectly and all of us rely upon the grace of God for forgiveness, one of the sure signs that we are truly in Christ and growing in his grace is how these imperatives are being expressed in our lives personally and corporately and our grief and our repentance when they are not.

As we are in Christ by faith and united to him, let us never forget that we are members one of another in this family and in this household of faith. Second, Paul describes God's people as the church of the living God. The church of the living God.

The Greek word, I think as many of you know for church is ecclesia. From it we get the word ecclesiastical. that which pertains to the church.

It's a combination of two words meaning to call out. But in the Bible, the word typically carries the idea of an assembly or a congregation. And we often think of the church as something that originated in the New Testament.

You may even hear people make the comment that the church was born, its birthday is at Pentecost on Acts chapter 2. That's when the church began. But that is not actually correct.

Most certainly the pouring out of God's spirit upon the church at Pentecost was a turning point in the church now under the new covenant. Christ having come, died, rose again, and ascended. But in reality, hasn't God from the very beginning had a church, a people of his own choosing, set apart and assembled as the recipients of his grace?

Most certainly he has. And this is why we can also speak of Israel under the old covenant as the church of God, a people of his own possession, looking forward in faith to the redemption coming in Christ, just as we look back in faith to Christ who has come. In Acts 7:38, Stephen even refers to Old Testament Israel as the eklesia in the wilderness, which the King James version renders as the church in the wilderness.

There has always been a continuous church under the new or excuse me, under the covenant of grace with Christ at the center of it. So when you think of the church, realize that our roots do not begin 500 years ago at the Reformation, nor do they begin 2,000 years ago at Pentecost. Ours is a spiritual heritage extending back millennia.

People like Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Ruth, Moses, David, the prophets, the apostles, these are our spiritual ancestors. This is why Paul speaking of the cloud of God's presence with Israel during the Exodus writes in 1 Corinthians 10:1, "Our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea." Who is Paul referring to with the word our? Well, he's referring to the church.

That's who he's writing to. the church at Corenth, a church that is made up of both believing Jews and believing Gentiles alike. And both can speak of those saints in the Old Testament as our fathers because both belong to the same covenant family sharing the same spiritual heritage in redemptive history.

Notice also the church is identified as the church of the living God. Often in the Old Testament, Yahweh is called the living God in deliberate contrast to the lifeless idols of the surrounding unbelieving nations. And Paul's use of this term emphasizes that God is not confined to some period of time long ago, but is always active, always speaking by his word, always saving, always ruling.

We might ask, well, where does this living God live? Where does God dwell? Where does God make his presence known?

And the answer is with his people. Joshua 3:10, Joshua said, "The living God is among you." And wasn't that God's covenant promise to Israel repeated again and again. I will dwell with you and I will be your God and you will be my people.

Friends, is that any less true today? Paul calls the church the temple of the living God and quote a dwelling in which God lives by his spirit. An understanding that the living God abides among his people should profoundly influence our community life together.

How we worship and how we interact with each other. Friends, we are always and ever quorum deo before the face of God. And remembering that should bring an appropriate sense of weightiness and gravity to all of life and how we conduct ourselves in all things to the glory of God.

Lastly, we come to the third description of the church and that is a pillar and buttress of the truth. That is quite the lofty title. Paul is obviously incorporating ar uh architectural imagery here.

The picture of a pillar or a column uh would have been quite familiar to the citizens of Ephesus who lived in the presence of the great temple to Aremis. Artemis of the Ephesians. One of the wonders of the ancient world with its 127 pillars more than 60 ft high upholding its massive marble roof.

Likewise, the church is a pillar holding up the truth so that it is seen and understood by the world. As John Calvin observed, the church is not the source of truth but the publisher of the truth. And as we'll see next week in chapter 17 or verse 17, that truth is the gospel of Jesus Christ and the apostolic teaching that proclaims and explains it.

This is the church's mission to put the gospel of Christ up on a pedestal and display it far and wide the good news that Christ has entered this world to save sinners. For as Paul has already written in chapter 2 verse three, it is the the desire of God our savior that all people, meaning all kinds of people everywhere, that all people be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. In addition to being a pillar of the truth, upholding it for all the world to see, the church is also a buttress of the truth.

Some of your translations may say a foundation or a ground of truth. Perhaps you have been to Europe or maybe you've seen and picture those flying buttresses of the massive ancient majestic cathedrals that are scattered throughout Europe. A buttress provides stability and support for a building.

And in the same way, the church's task is to support and to hold steady the truth, especially amidst the howling winds of heresy and unbelief that rage at all times. And as we've already seen, this is especially important in Ephesus, where the truth is under assault by the false teachers. It is the ongoing task of the church to uphold and to defend the truth against all those who would tear it aunder.

So in this last description, we see the twin responsibilities of the church as a pillar and a buttress of the truth, holding high the truth of Christ for all the world to see and supporting it when others would attempt to undermine it. This is why the Westminster Confession of Faith reminds us that outside of the church, the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ in the household and family of God, there is ordinarily no possibility of salvation. The church alone is the herald and supporter of the truth of Jesus.

Now, I realize that these three descriptions of the church may appear to be a bit idealized. Sometimes they do not appear to line up very well with the church as we see her. Eugene Pearson aptly described the church at present as quote equal parts mystery and mess.

I think there's truth. But the difference between these two pictures is not reason to give up on the church. For as the church witnesses to Christ, faulty at times though it is, it is the only witness God has ordained.

And Christ is promised. Not even the gates of hell shall prevail against it. Pastor and author Earl Palmer was once defending the church against critics who dismissed it for its hypocrisy and failures and its inability to measure up to the exalted calling in the New Testament.

Palmer was in California at the time and he referred to the small town of Militus which his audience would have been familiar with. He said, "When the Militus High School orchestra attempts Beethoven's ninth symphony, the result is appalling. I wouldn't be surprised if the performance made old Ludvig roll over in his grave despite his deafness.

You might ask, why bother? Why inflict on these poor kids the terrible burden of trying to rem render what the immortal Beethoven had in mind? Not even the great Chicago Symphony Orchestra can attain that perfection.

Palmer continued, "My answer is this. The Melpedus High School Orchestra will give some people in that audience their only encounter with Beethoven's great ninth symphony. Far from perfection, it is nevertheless the only way they will hear Beethoven's message.

So it is with the church. We are the household of God, the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. And apart from the church's witness, weak though at times it is, how will others hear the good news of Jesus and be saved?

Let's pray. Holy God, we thank you for your mercy and grace, calling together to yourself a people of your own choosing for so great a gift of salvation in your son. We praise you for your church, Christ's bride, whom he has redeemed at the price of his blood.

Please forgive us when we fail to live up to the lofty standards we read in scripture. Purify your church even as you are purifying us individually and conforming us to Jesus. And help us to hold high the gospel truth while also supporting it against those who would tear it down.

We ask this in the name of him who is the head of the church, Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. The insert to your bulletin is the final song we're going to sing today.

All glory be to Christ. Let's stand together. Bless praise.

House Glory. to Christ. All glor Praise him.

Glor to Christ. All glor. for us with us.

glor to Christ Thank you so much for being in worship today. I do want to encourage you to come back and join us again tonight at 5:00 as we close out the Lord's day in worship and praise to him. Receive now God's good benediction.

Go now in the power of the Holy Spirit to love and to serve the Lord. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with each of you now and forever more. Amen.

Hallelujah. Enemy hallelujah.