A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD’S-DAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 29, 1878, BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON
“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 Timothy 3:15 (ESV)
PAUL’S design in this epistle was to instruct young Timothy how he should behave himself in the church of God, so as to discharge his office as minister, evangelist and pastor with honor to himself and profit to the people. He reminds him that the church is the house of God and in God’s own house a man ought to be upon his best behavior, for it is no light thing to draw near unto the Lord. A poor man who is called to visit a prince or king will anxiously inquire how he ought to act. We, poor creatures that we are, when we are admitted into the church which is the house of God, should inquire what conduct will be decorous and comely in those who are admitted into the presence of the great King, and permitted to dwell within His palace gates.
Especially should each of us, endeavor to behave himself aright in the house of God, if we know that we are looked up to and imitated. All who teach the young, all who are parents, all who are persons of age and experience, all who occupy influential positions and especially all deacons, elders and preachers, should pray the Lord that they may know how they may behave themselves in the house of God, lest inadvertently their misbehavior should be injurious to the weaker sort. Such need to learn how they should behave to their brethren, to the Elder Brother, and to the great Father of all. We need to learn the ways of the house, the customs of the palace. Part of the objective of the sermon this morning, will be that those of us who are in the house of God may learn how we should behave in it. But special prominence will be given to steadfastness in the faith which makes a man not only a dweller in the church but a pillar of it.
First, I shall at some length expound the text, and then try to enforce the lesson from it. In expounding it, I see three things to note, and the first is THE GLORIOUS NAME OF THE CHURCH—“The Church of the living God.” First, it is called the church. What is a church? It is an assembly. And a Christian church is an assembly of faithful men, of men who know the truth, believe it, affirm it, and adhere to it. 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.
In order to be a church, there must be a selection and a calling out, and that calling must come from God, who alone can call effectually. Touching all the members of this select assembly there is an eternal purpose which is the original reason of their being called, and to each of them there is an effectual calling whereby they actually gather into the church.
The church is not a number of unregenerate people coming together entirely of their own notion to defend such-and-such dogmas. Such persons may form a club, but they cannot make a church. There must be a coming together of renewed men, in the name of Jesus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and these must meet for purposes which God Himself ordains, and be joined together after His own fashion. Jesus must be the uniting cornerstone, and His Spirit the indwelling power, as it is written, “In whom you also are built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit.”
Secondly we will consider HER DESIGN IN REFERENCE TO GOD. The Apostle speaks of the church of the living God as the house of God. This is a very beautiful and instructive figure. “The Most High dwells not in temples made with hands,” whether they are called cathedrals, churches, or meeting houses. Today there is no consecrated shrine, no appointed building where we must resort if we would meet with God, for behold the Lord is to be found everywhere by those who worship Him in spirit and in truth. True hearts view the entire universe as a temple wherein everyone speaks of the glory of God. Yet there is a shrine and a temple, but it is living and spiritual, the called-out assembly, the church of the living God is the special abode of Deity.
Thus, have we spoken upon the design of the church in reference to God—the tug of war comes in the third place, THE DESIGN OF THE CHURCH IN REFERENCE TO THE TRUTH. Paul compares it to a pillar and its pedestal or basement, for that, I think, would be a fair translation.
What does the expression mean—the pillar and basement? I think it means, first, that in the church, the truth should abide. In the church of the living God it always does abide, even as a pillar stirs not 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. The church stands steadfast and unmovable as a pillar of truth fixed on its base.
If you find not the truth anywhere else, you will find it in the church of the living God, which is truth’s castle and stronghold. “In which church?” you ask. I said in the church of the living God. I did not say in the Church of England, or in the Church of Scotland, or in the Wesleyan church, or in the Baptist church, or even in the assembly of Exclusive Brethren. But I did say that the truth of God is as a treasure in the church of the living God, and it is never removed from her keeping.
Therefore, if the truth is not maintained by any so-called church, it is not the church of God. When the truth is given up, everything is given up. The very idea of a church involves the retaining of the truth with constant steadfastness, and if this is neglected, the so-called church has nothing left in it but the name. As a pillar and its base are always in one place, so must the church be a fixed, permanent and unalterable column of gospel truth, and woe to her if she is not. It means that in the true church the truth is lifted up as upon a pillar. Truth not only rests there as on 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.
Once more, it is the Church’s business to maintain the truth with all her might. She is set as a bronze wall and an iron pillar against all error. However men may cringe or bow, there stands the column fast and firm, fixed on its pedestal, set on its base. So should the church in all ages stand fast to truth and yield to no error, nor concealment of doctrine, nor change of ordinance. The church of the apostles is the model of the church of today.
May the Lord’s truth and grace be found here. Have a blessed day in the Lord.
Soli deo Gloria!
His Word Today 