Rev. David Holwick H 1 Timothy - Clean Up the Church, #8
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
February 21, 2010
1 Timothy 3:16
JESUS IN A NUTSHELL
I. Standing the test of time.
A. The stupidest hymn ever written.
Many people have their favorite hymns.
Most people have hymns they hate, too.
You may hate all the new contemporary hymns.
Or the old boring ones.
The internet is full of Top Ten Worst Hymns and stuff like that.
What would be on your list?
Many seem to think that good hymn-writing has gone down the
tubes, but Ben Myers disagrees.
He thinks most hymns have ALWAYS been bad.
It's just that only the decent ones are remembered.
Here is an example from the 1700s that Myers calls the stupidest.
It is a stirring anti-Muslim tirade, written for the edification
of the saints:
The smoke of the infernal cave,
Which half the Christian world o'erspread,
Disperse, Thou heavenly Light, and save
The souls by that Impostor led,
That Arab-chief, as Satan bold,
Who quite destroy'd Thy Asian fold.
O might the blood of sprinkling cry
For those who spurn the sprinkled blood!
Assert Thy glorious Deity,
Stretch out Thine arm, Thou Triune God
The Unitarian fiend expel,
And chase his doctrine back to hell.
Doesn't the line about "Unitarian fiend" give you goosebumps?
So who do you think wrote this gem?
Why, it was Charles Wesley himself - the greatest hymn-writer
who ever lived!
Charles Wesley published about 6,000 hymns - our hymnal has 16
of them.
What happened to the other 5,984?
They were sung for a while (like our own contemporary ditties),
then mercifully forgotten. #36142
Only the stuff that is good and powerful can stand the test
of time.
That is important when you consider that today's verse is
actually one of the oldest Christian hymns.
It was written almost 2,000 years ago.
It may not seem like much of a hymn to you, but it has a
structure and meter that convince most scholars that that's
what it is.
We may not sing it anymore, but it is worth studying.
Not only does it exalt Jesus Christ, but it gives a glimpse
of what the church should be doing today.
You might think of it as the story of Jesus in a nutshell.
II. The profound mystery of godliness.
A. Godliness has an unusual meaning here.
1) Normally it refers to humans living in a godly way.
2) Here, it refers to Christianity itself, as embodied in Jesus.
B. What is so mysterious about it?
1) Ancient people loved mysteries.
a) A big chunk of their religions were called mystery
religions.
b) Only people who were initiated could get the secrets
explained to them.
c) They were sort of like the Masons today.
2) Among Christians, mystery meant something different.
a) It was something that was hidden in the past, but now
God has made it plain.
b) Anyone can understand it with God's help.
c) The mystery is that God visited us in the form of Jesus.
III. He became one of us.
A. Who appeared?
1) The King James Bible has "God appeared...".
a) This would be a clear statement of the deity of Jesus.
1> Does the NIV not believe in the deity?
2> It supports other passages that refer to his
deity, so another factor must be at work here.
b) The earliest manuscripts don't have the word "God."
1> I did a 30-page paper in seminary just on this
phrase, in a textual criticism class.
A> I will read it to you at the end of the sermon.
2> It appears that a monk made the change by altering
a single letter.
2) "He appeared..." (literally, "who appeared") is probably
correct.
a) For some reason, several hymns or poems to Christ in
the New Testament start with "who."
b) It does not mean Jesus isn't God, it just means this
verse is not talking about that.
B. He appeared in a body.
1) Everybody understands this to refer to the incarnation of
Jesus.
a) He had a body just like ours.
b) As John 1:14 says, "The Word became flesh and made
his dwelling among us."
2) In the past, some Christians have had an issue with this.
a) They think Jesus only *appeared* to be physical, but
was really just a spirit.
1> Sort of like a hologram.
2> They had the idea that the physical world was evil
because it was physical, so Jesus couldn't be
that way.
b) But Jesus had to be just like us so he could relate to
us, and save us.
C. Was vindicated by the Spirit.
1) This line is a little more difficult.
a) "Vindicated" is translated elsewhere as "justified."
1> The word "justified" means the same thing here that
it means in Romans 5:1,
"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ."
2> To be justified is to be made righteous in God's
eyes.
A> For us, this takes the miracle of salvation
because we don't deserve it.
B> Jesus is the only one who deserved justification
because he was perfect.
b) "Spirit" should have a small "s" because it probably
refers to Jesus' inner spiritual nature.
1> Literally, it is not "by the spirit" but "in spirit."
2> It parallels "in a body," which supports the
identification of spirit with his inner nature.
Pastor Ray Stedman says that this phrase tells us something
about the inner life of Jesus.
There was a continual witness being borne to the spirit of
Jesus that he was righteous before God.
He was loved and cherished and desired and looked after
with deep affection and concern by his heavenly Father.
That was the secret of his serene and untroubled character.
That is what kept him calm and panic-proof in the midst of
all the pressures and dangers in which he walked.
The reason this truth is so remarkable, and why it is put
into an early Christian hymn, is because that is true
of us as well.
We, by faith, are justified in spirit. Jesus was justified
in spirit in reality; he did nothing wrong.
[1]
D. Was seen by angels.
1) The Bible says angels were involved throughout Jesus' life.
a) They were there at his birth in Bethlehem.
b) They gave him strength after his temptation in the
wilderness.
c) They were present at his resurrection.
d) And they now worship him in heaven.
2) Jesus' life was always a blending of the visible and the
invisible.
IV. There was a purpose in his coming.
A. He was preached among the nations.
1) The word for "nations" usually means those who were not
Jews.
a) Even in Jesus' ministry, foreigners came to hear him
preach and asked him for healings, which he gave them.
b) In the rest of the New Testament, Christians took the
gospel all over the Roman Empire.
c) In the 1800s, missionaries took the good news to every
inhabited continent on this world.
2) We preach him.
a) Notice that what was preached was not a theory, but a
Person.
b) Paul declared, "We preach Christ." 1 Cor 1:23
B. He was believed on in the world.
1) Preaching expects a response. We want people to believe.
2) Right now, Christianity is exploding in China and the
former Communist countries.
3) But what really matters is, do YOU believe?
V. It's all for glory.
A. He was taken up in glory.
1) This would most obviously refer to the ascension of
Jesus into heaven.
2) He is not just "up there" but is being honored and
worshipped by angels and saints.
3) As more people believe, more glory will come to him.
a) And a day will come when we will share in his glory.
B. It's about Jesus.
1) Chapter 3 has focused on the kind of leaders the church
needs.
a) But you must be careful not to think a good church is
all about management and diligent people.
b) The real purpose of the church is to lift up Jesus.
1> We believe he rules in heaven.
2> We believe every one of us will answer to him
someday.
3> We also believe he is here with us, to save us and
guide us and protect us.
2) We can't understand it all, but we can praise him.
=========================================================================
SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
[1] Adapted from the sermon “The Central Glory” by Rev. Ray Stedman,
1981, Kerux sermon #5364.
#36142 "The Stupidest Hymn Ever Written," adapted by David Holwick from a
blog by Ben Myers, originally written March 13, 2009.
<http://faith-theology.blogspot.com/2009/03/stupidest-hymn-ever~
-written.html>
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
=========================================================================
Sermon Notes
Gordon Fee
I. Conclusion of section.
A. Timothy had been told to oppose false teachers.
B. Paul has dealt with various disorders in the church:
1) Worship issues.
2) Leadership issues.
C. The church must pay heed because it has been entrusted with
truth.
1) This truth is illustrated in an early hymn.
2) v.15 - mix of metaphors, household and building.
a) Two concerns of letter:
1> proper behavior toward false teachers.
2> church entrusted with truth.
II. Hymn.
A. Godliness.
1) Ordinarily, our duty to God.
2) Here, it is the content of Christianity, embodied in Jesus.
B. Structure of hymn.
1) One stanza of six lines.
2) Two stanzas of three lines. (* Fee)
3) Three stanzas of two lines. (NIV)
III. Suggested structure and meaning.
A. He appeared in a body.
1) Universally understood to refer to incarnation of Jesus.
2) Comparable to John 1:14 and Romans 1:3.
B. Was vindicated by the Spirit.
1) A reference to the Holy Spirit or his spiritual nature?
2) Parallel with "in flesh" and "in spirit" in first two
lines favors his spiritual nature.
a) If this is so, it would be that he was vindicated,
or even exalted, in his resurrection.
b) Therefore, first two lines of hymn allude to Christ's
humiliation (becoming one of us) and exaltation.
C. Was seen by angels.
1) A puzzling reference.
2) Verb "seen by" is regular formula for resurrection
appearances. Lk 24:23, Acts 9:17, 1 Cor 15:5-8
3) However, here it probably refers to angelic worship of
ascended Jesus.
a) First three lines would refer to his humiliation,
exaltation, and glorification.
b) Next three lines would refer to his ongoing ministry
through the church.
1> However, third line presents a problem. (see below)
D. Was preached among the nations (or, Gentiles).
1) Clearly, apostolicc proclamation of the gospel.
E. Was believed on in the world.
1) Acceptance of the proclamation.
F. Was taken up in glory.
1) Usually this refers to the ascension of Jesus into heaven.
a) But this would not fit into ongoing scheme in hymn.
2) "In glory" may refer to the manner of his exaltation rather
than the place of it.
3) Line 6 would be the glorious climax of the hymn.
IV. The great mystery of godliness has two focuses:
A. Christ's own humiliation and exaltation.
B. The church's ongoing witness to him.
V. Function of this passage in the letter.
A. Two possibilities, or both together:
1) Double emphasis of humiliation/exaltation with focus on
present triumph of Jesus probably contrasts with the
christology of the false teachers.
2) Paul wants a sharp contrast between Timothy and the false
teachers.
a) The hymn prepares for Paul's rebuke of the teachers
by expressing what the real truth is about.
Demarest
I. Lyrical hymn.
A. KJV - God was manifest in the flesh.
1) Most translations, and manuscripts, say "who".
2) Obviously refers to Christ.
B. Death and resurrection are not mentioned, but assumed.
1) Even though godliness has been revealed in Christ, it is
still a profound mystery.
2) Rather than bothering with definitions, it is better to
praise and worship him.
