Nathan E. Lewis

“The Mystery of Godliness�
I Timothy 3:16
(a sermon preached at Evergreen Presbyterian Church, in Beaverton, Oregon, by Nathan Lewis)

Paul was a church planter. He not only traveled throughout Asia Minor and Europe, establishing new congregations; he also trained others to serve these new congregations. He invested much of his time in Timothy, whom he considered to be a son. The Bible includes two letters of Paul addressed to Timothy, training him to lead and to serve the church. Paul had assigned Timothy to the congregations in Ephesus. There may have been as many as 30 congregations in Ephesus at this time.
Evergreen is part of a church-planting mission here in Oregon. This past Sunday, our elder, Steve Bicker reported about what God is doing at our new worship site in Newberg. His report was encouraging and stirring. We have baptized three persons upon profession of faith and by the end of the year we may be celebrating as many as 30 baptisms. The Holy Spirit is applying the word of God to transform lives and to build a fellowship. The first milestone we hope to reach in a short time is the organization of a new congregation, Chehalem Valley Presbyterian Church.
This morning, our elder, Michael Kane, is preaching at Intown PCA in downtown Portland, at Old Church. Five years ago, Charles Garland planted Intown and two years ago we organized her as a congregation. This past December Charles took a call to pastor Ivy Creek PCA in Lawrenceville, Georgia. Intown hasn’t folded but continues to thrive. This past week I reviewed Michael’s sermon script for his preaching this morning, and he dedicated the first paragraph and two more throughout his sermon, to reference, encourage, and expand our church planting efforts in Oregon. Mission to Oregon is presently comprised of five congregations and three missions.
We are part of a larger church planting movement of our national church. This past week I participated in our annual Mission to North America Key Leaders Meeting in Salt Lake City. We met in Utah for a number of reasons. The main reason was that we now have five missions in Utah. We have seven missions in Colorado. We have 14 in Northern California. We have six new missions in San Diego. This past year we have formed the new Western Canada Presbytery, a collection of 20 congregations.
Meanwhile, back in Ephesus, home to 30 congregations, Paul is concerned that Timothy keep the Church on track. He writes to Timothy, “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.…� Paul addresses a good number of behavioral issues. But he begins with the most important. He begins with the mystery of godliness. Paul is convinced that the church’s holy behavior will flow from a proper focus, a holy adoration of Christ Jesus, the head of the church. Christ Jesus is our only gate and path to proper behavior in the church.
Paul begins with the church’s confession of Christ Jesus. What do we believe concerning the head of our church? He quotes a verse from a first century hymn. Paul writes, “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness….� What is great? The mystery or the mystery of godliness? Both are great. Yet Paul always presents the mystery of the divine as the revelation of God. We do not understand everything about the divine and about God’s work in the world, but we can grasp what has been revealed to us. For Paul, the mystery is consistently centered upon Christ, upon the gospel, upon God interacting with us in grace and love.
For the Gnostic in first century Ephesus and for the Gnostic in 21st century Oregon, mystery means that anything of significance in unknowable. Indeed if we were able to understand a message, event, or principle, its spiritual significance would be lost. The mystery must be perpetually unknowable for it to be of any spiritual use to us. For Paul and the Christian faith, from the first century to the 21st, the gospel declares that the mystery has been revealed and that this mystery actually connects us to what we can know about God.
What is the mystery of godliness? It is all about Christ Jesus. Paul quotes six lines from a first century hymn. Each line reveals to us a bit more about the mystery of godliness. Each line tells us something about Christ. Firstly, we learn that the Christ is the incarnate Son of God. “He was manifested in the flesh.� The Jesus Seminar and the New Light Movement in Oregon distinguish between Jesus, the historic man, who was a great teacher and movement leader and the Christ, a cosmic ideal of love and peace. The Christian apostles, including Paul insist that Jesus is the Christ. They present the Son of God, a divine Person, taking upon himself human flesh. The mystery of godliness includes the incarnation of the Son of God. The historic creeds present the dual nature of Christ – fully divine and fully human. This dual nature of Christ has been revealed to us. Do we understand it fully? No – it is part of the mystery of godliness. Nevertheless, it has been presented to us in a way that we can understand it to a certain extent. We receive the presentation and say, “This is indeed remarkable.� Though the incarnation of Christ is mysterious, actual people, some educated and some uneducated, some Jewish and some Gentile, some male and some female, interacted with Jesus and found him to be remarkable. The Syrophonecian woman discovered him to be the Lord of heaven and earth, able to free her daughter from her demons. When Jesus asked his disciples who they thought he was, Peter blurted out, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!�
“Peter, would you explain for us the dual nature of Christ?�
“ I’m sorry, I’m not much of a theologian. You’ll have to ask Paul to explain it to you, or try tracking down that elusive author of the book of Hebrews that people are reading.�
Secondly, the mystery of godliness includes the Holy Spirit justifying the Son. Mere men, powerful Jews and Gentiles together crucified Jesus as a criminal, a disturber of the peace and a blasphemer. This righteous life of Jesus, his perfect obedience, his miraculous and merciful healings and his brilliant and loving teachings were wasted. In the end, he was an insurrectionist, an extremist, a dangerous man. At the beginning of the Passover Feast, Jesus was celebrated as a national hero as he rode through the Jerusalem gates. At the conclusion of the Passover Feast, Jesus was crucified on a hill outside the city gates. But on the third day, early on Sunday morning, the Father raised his Son from the dead and the Holy Spirit vindicated Jesus Christ. Humanity condemned Christ but the Holy Spirit justified him. Today the entire world is hearing of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Every people group must decide what to do about the mystery of godliness: Has the divine Spirit vindicated Christ by resurrection or not? What do you think? What is your faith?
Thirdly, Paul tells us that the angels have witnessed the mystery of godliness. Early Sunday morning the earth shook and the angel of the Lord descended from heaven and rolled back the stone sealing the tomb of Jesus. The angel sat upon the stone. The angel of the Lord would have been the first being to witness the resurrected Jesus. The angel of the Lord was accompanied by at least one other angel. When the women arrived to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body with spices, they were wondering whom would be able to roll back the stone so that they could enter the tomb. They were met by the two angels who had witnessed the risen Jesus Christ and so they said to the women, “Do not be afraid. Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here for he has risen as he said.� The women were amazed at the resurrection. I wonder how the angels reacted to the resurrection of Jesus. Was it just one more miracle of God at which they were required to attend to deliver divine messages? Was Resurrection Sunday merely one more work day for God and his angels? All in a day’s work – ho hum, we have another resurrection to attend to? Or do the angels have the privilege of seeing God’s redemptive work unfold in power and glory from the vantage point of the heavenly throne room as well as on location?
Fourthly, we learn that Christ Jesus is proclaimed among the nations. From Jerusalem, to Judaea, to Samaria, to the ends of the earth, the gospel of Jesus has spread. Those who were eye witnesses of his life, death and resurrection proclaimed what they saw and heard throughout the world. This proclamation is continuing today. In Oregon, we are part of this proclamation. Our multiplying of congregations in Mission to Oregon is the proclaiming of the gospel, that good news that the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory.
Fifthly, we discover that Christ Jesus is embraced by faith worldwide. In 1900 the continent of Africa was home to 9 million Christians. In 2000 the faithful had increased to 380 million. In Kazakhstan there were 10 Christians in 1900. In 2002, the 120 congregations in Kazakhstan gathered 10,000 believers. In 2002 Chinese Christians totaled 80 million. There are 20,000 home churches in Beijing alone. South Korea counted 14 million Christians in 2000 growing to 18 million in 2005. Brazil, the largest Roman Catholic nation in the world is also home to 25 million Pentecostals, 1.1 million Baptists, and 800,000 Lutherans. 40 new congregations are planted weekly in Brazil. Planet earth is home to 2 billion Christians, 33% of the world’s population. Christ Jesus is believed on in the world. What do you believe? Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God?
Finally, we confess that Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, sitting at the right hand of God, ready to judge the living and the dead. In his Gospel, the apostle John preserves a lengthy prayer of Jesus. His opening words are, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.� God the Father has answered the prayer of his Son, Jesus. How has the heavenly Father glorified his Son? He has received him into heaven. He has conferred upon him the greatest title, “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.� He has seated Christ Jesus at his right hand, meaning that all authority, power, and dominion have been granted to him. He has appointed Jesus Christ Judge of the living and the dead on the last day.
In 1809 Thomas Kelly caught a glimpse of the exalted Christ Jesus and wrote this hymn:
Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious:
See the Man of Sorrows now;
From the fight returned victorious,
Every knee to him shall bow.
Crown him! Crown him!
Crowns become the victor’s brow.