Whatever Happened to Old Fashioned Manners?

“These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly:  But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”  I Timothy 3:14-15

Timothy was a young pastor who was left at the church in Ephesus after his and Paul’s visit there in order that Timothy could keep a close eye on the church.  There had been some false doctrine and sin that had crept in among the believers.  I would suppose that is one of the most difficult tasks of a pastor to tackle the situations of church members who have stepped off the straight and narrow and slid down the slippery slope of sin.  One would tend to think that a person who has truly been born again would be extra careful to avoid sin and live like Christ as much as humanly possible.  However, not everyone is as committed to living righteously as they should.  Of course, no one is perfect, except Jesus, but that is not an excuse to become lax in serving the Lord.  I am certainly a long way from perfect, but my philosophy is that if Jesus could suffer and die for me, then it is incumbent upon me to try and live my life for Him.  Considering what Jesus did, living for Him is not too much to ask.

Paul very much wanted to visit Timothy in Ephesus, but Paul had an inkling that he would likely never make it back there due to the troubles that he had found himself in with the authorities because of his diligent preaching of the gospel.  Instead, he wrote to Timothy to give him more instructions on how to lead the church and his personal life, as well.  It was a good thing that he wrote to Timothy for he did not make it back to visit him personally before his trial in Rome.  It is wise to have a plan B, and may C, D, and so on because plans do not always pan out.  In fact, I find that they rarely do go as planned.  God’s will is not necessarily our will, and His plans always supersede ours.  Paul was very conscientious that Timothy would have as much help as possible so that he would know how to behave in God’s house, the house of God who lives forever, whose house, filled by His word is the pillar and ground, the foundation, the beginning and the eternal truth.  No one need go any further than a Bible-based, gospel preaching, loving and worshipful church to find God’s truth.  However, not all churches are preaching and living the truth, sad to say.

Paul wrote that there is no controversy of the truth, and that the mystery of godliness is great.  What did Paul mean by the “mystery of godliness”?  If you think about it, salvation is a mystery.  Realizing that Jesus suffered and died to save us from sin, how can a person do something as simple as to repent and turn from his or her sin, put his or her faith in Christ, who he or she has never seen, and receive not only the Spirit of God within his or her soul, but eternity in God’s home forever and ever?  How lop-sided is that?  It is also a mystery how a human being who is filled with pride can become a humble servant of the Lord and lead a godly, righteous life.  It is a mystery why God would send His only Son to suffer and die for the likes of us sinful humans.  The gospel– the birth, life, ministry, persecution of, suffering, death, and resurrection–is a mystery and thus must be taken on faith for we can’t explain it, but only tell about it and tell how it has affected our lives.

Paul had instructed Timothy on several matters concerning his ministry and the overseeing of the body of believers in Ephesus.  The qualifications of a pastor were given in the last blog (1/14/24).  Timothy was also reminded to be careful about his own behavior as a pastor.  If there is anyone who is scrutinized more carefully that a pastor, I wouldn’t know who that was.  Too bad politicians aren’t held to a standard like that of pastors.  Timothy, as well as all pastors, was a role model before his congregation so that he always had to be on his toes to represent Christ to the church and the church to the community.  He had to be a man of prayer for without dependence upon the Lord, his work would have been in vain.

However, the pastor is not the only one in the church held accountable for his or her behavior.  Again, I am certainly not perfect, but I have been astonished at some of the things that I have seen folks do in church.  There are many who treat the sanctuary like it is a movie theater or sports stadium.  Some dress as if they were about to go out and work in the yard.  There is no rule that one has to “dress up” for church.  People used to wear their best for Sunday.  That’s why their clothes they wore on Sunday were called their “Sunday best”.  Nowadays, dress is much more casual, which is fine, but it seems that something has been lost in the atmosphere of worship.  Of course, that is probably just me.  But then there are those who bring their coffee or lattes into the worship service because the church serves coffee, which is OK, but it seems more appropriate to drink it before the service, because there is always the possibility that it will be spilled on the pew or the carpet.  I have seen young adults prop their feet up on the back of the pew in front of them like passengers prop their feet up on the dashboard of a car.  Maybe I am just too picky, but Jesus cast out the moneychangers from the temple because He was zealous for the respect of His Father’s house.  And that’s what it boils down to–respect for God’s house.  After all, as Paul wrote, it is the church of the living God.