Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20120429.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
1 Timothy: God's Ministry Roles For Church Leaders And The Local Church
Part XI: Understanding The Centrality Of The Local Church In God's Program
(1 Timothy 3:14-15)
  1. Introduction
    1. Local church overseers as well as believers under their oversight can easily tempted by the increase of many parachurch organizations and groups to view their local church ministry efforts as insignificant.
    2. Nothing could be further from the truth, for the local church is the key focus of God's program on earth, a fact stated in ways in 1 Timothy 3:14-15 that provide moving application for all in the local church:
  2. Understanding The Centrality Of The Local Church In God's Program, 1 Timothy 3:14-15.
    1. The Apostle Paul noted he was writing about the qualifications of elders, deacons and women who served in the Church, coupled with the activity of men and women in the Church (1 Timothy 3:14 with 2:1-3:13) that Timothy might know how he was to conduct himself "in the house of God" (en oiko theou), U. B. S. Greek New Testament, 1966, p. 724; 1 Timothy 3:15a.
    2. In view of the huge emphasis on parachurch ministries today, note that Paul was not referring to the Church "universal," to the Church conceived of all Christians everywhere, and that for these reasons:
      1. First, Paul had directed Timothy to remain in Ephesus for a ministry there, 1 Timothy 1:3.
      2. Second, Paul's commands to Timothy on selecting qualified workers for ministry had to do with people in Ephesus, not with the Church universal where Timothy could not select people he did not know.
      3. Third, Paul's directives that Timothy give attention to his personal duties of the "public reading of Scripture", to "preaching" and to "teaching" in 1 Timothy 4:13 dealt with activities in the local gathering at Ephesus; Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978, ftn. to 1 Timothy 4:13.
    3. Well, this local Church of Ephesus Paul called "the house of God," and Timothy's conduct IN ("en", Ibid., U. B. S. Grk. N. T.) it was thus conduct in the LOCAL Church at Ephesus, 1 Timothy 3:15a. This verse reveals that wherever there is a local Church, it embodies "the house of God."
    4. As such, the LOCAL church "house of God" has a key role in God's plan on the earth, 1 Timothy 3:15b:
      1. The local church as the "house of God" is also the "assembly of the living God" (ekklesia theou zontos, Ibid.), meaning the abode of the God Who is alive versus a temple of dead idols, cf. 1 Thess. 1:9; William Hendriksen, Exposition of the Pastoral Epistles (NTC),1974, p. 136.
      2. As the abode of the living God, the Lord indwelling each member of the local church (1 Cor. 6:19), the local church is the "pillar, column" (stulos, Arndt & Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the N. T., 1967, p. 779) and the "foundation" (edraioma, Ibid., p. 217) of the truth of God, 1 Timothy 3:15b.
      3. Well, the column supports the roof of a building, where the foundation supports the entire structure (Ibid., Hendriksen), so Paul here asserted that the local church not only presents the truth to others, but it is the conservatory of the entire corpus of God's truth, and other Scriptures show how (Ibid., p. 137):
        1. Local church believers hear and heed the truth of God, Matthew 13:9.
        2. Local church believers handle it aright, 2 Timothy 2:15.
        3. Local church believers hide it in their heart, Psalm 119:11.
        4. Local church believers hold it forth as the Word of Life, Philippians 2:16.
        5. Local church believers study and meditate upon it, "digesting" it, Revelation 10:9.
        6. Local church believers defend it, Philippians 1:16.
        7. Local church believers disseminate the truth of God, Matthew 28:18-20.
        8. Local church believers demonstrate the power of God's Word in their lives, Colossians 3:12-17.
Lesson: The LOCAL church is the KEY CHANNEL of God's truth to the world in this age, so to be used of GOD, the believer MUST minister THROUGH the VEHICLE of the LOCAL CHURCH!

Application: (1) May we see the centrality of the local church in God's plan so as to make it our chief focus in ministry. (2) We must realize that parachurch institutions like missionary organizations, Bible colleges and seminaries, etc., Christian ministry groups apart from the local church, are vehicles that can be effective for Christ IF they AID the local church, but NOT if they DETRACT from it!