Princeton Presbyterian Church (EPC) Sermon # 1623
February 4, 2024
1 Timothy 6.3-16 Click here for audio worship.
Dr. Ed Pettus
(This is an extended outline, not a verbatim transcript.)
“Our Sovereign God”
3If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, 4he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, 5and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. 6But godliness with contentment is great gain, 7for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 8But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. 11But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, 14to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
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Our God
We are examining the essentials of faith in accordance with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, our denomination, and what that might mean for us as a church and as individual believers. Last Sunday we heard about the authority of Scripture upon which all of these essentials are based. We have included all the essentials on the bulletin insert. Today we take the first essential on the sovereignty of God. That is a fancy term for our God is in charge. He is over all things. He is the Creator.
Essential #1 – We believe in one God, the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To Him be all honor, glory and praise forever!
The essential begins with the belief in one God. There are many Scripture references but one of the most well know is that which written in Deuteronomy 6.4, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” This is known in the Jewish world, and Christian world, as the great Shema. Jews recite this text on many occasions, regularly in worship and in prayer. Shema is the Hebrew word for “hear”. We know that the word Shema means in its fullness “to listen and obey”. Consider that our confession of the one God carries with it a responsibility to give witness to the one God and to obey His Word. That means we are glorifying God in both speech and action, in words and deeds, in a good confession and in good works. One God, one Lord, one Savior, one Shepherd.
This essential continues and uses the term sovereignty as in the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of all things. Let’s consider Colossians 1.16-17, “16For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” This passage speaks of Jesus as Creator God (by Him all things were created) and Sustainer God (in Him all things hold together). I really like that sustainer part. It indicates that if Jesus were to give creation over, if His Spirit were to depart, everything would simply fall apart, probably cease to be. But that is not what God has done. The Holy Spirit is with us to sustain everything. Everything!
Our reading from 1 Timothy 6 gives us a few of the attributes that speak of God’s sovereignty. In verse 13 Paul is charging Timothy (and the church), that is, giving us a command, a statement of what to do! We will get into that in our next outline topic. But what I want us to notice is what verse 13 says about God. “I charge you in the presence of God.” God is present. His sovereign power is clearly displayed in His presence with all His people by the Holy Spirit. Jesus is given the name that means God with us, Emmanuel. Multiple times in the Old Testament God’s servants are told that God would be with them. The idols of men do not go with them. They are incapable of being present for they have no life. God is present with us.
Second, God gives life to all things. “I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things.” God is the Creator. He has created all things and given life to all His creatures. He breathed life into Adam. He spoke everything into existence. These miracles give testimony to God’s sovereignty.
Third, Jesus Christ made the good confession before Pontius Pilate. “I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession.” That seems like it just came out of nowhere from Paul’s pen. A good confession is truthful testimony, faithful witness, the telling of what makes God the Sovereign. Paul affirms in Timothy back in verse 12 that Timothy has also given a good confession among many people. What is the good confession? It is any testimony that we give to what God has done in Jesus Christ. Jesus gave testimony to the truth. In John 18.37, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”
This is our God: the living present God who gives life, and who testifies to what is true and just. He is sovereign over all things and by His grace we are saved.
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Our Charge
So Paul gives a charge to Timothy and by extension on to every Christian. Look again at verses 13-14, “13I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, 14to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here is the charge: to keep the commandments unstained and free from reproach. I thought about this as I was preparing to make our case at the Presbytery meeting Friday and yesterday. We have a situation where another Presbytery has been in conversation with a church seeking reception into the EPC. There are circumstances involved that I and many others believe should keep this church from joining our fellowship. This charge to keep the commandment unstained could mean two things: 1) Keep the commandment so that we are unstained by sin or the world. 2) Keep the commandment by rightly interpreting it for our lives and the life of the church. In other words, do not compromise God’s Word for the sake of being liked by the world. Hold fast to the truth. Do not twist the meaning of the Word to appease those who would seek to live in ways displeasing to God. Keep the commandment unstained. That is quite an important matter, especially when the world is pressing upon us to reinterpret the Word in order to justify and affirm the sins of the world. The case I presented at Presbytery seeks to do both of these things, keep us unstained by sin and the world and keep the commandments uncompromised.
The same could be said of the phrase “free from reproach”. Keep the commandment free from reproach. Be disciplined to obey God’s commandments so that no one should or could reproach us, and keep the Word intact and sacred without giving it over to be misinterpreted to fit the desires of a twisted and crooked generation (Philippians 2.15).
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Our Sovereign God
We believe that God is sovereign over all things. We look to 1 Timothy 6.15-16, “15...he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.” There is no authority above God, no authority outside of God, no power, no might, no creative force, nothing above God. Of all kings of the earth, God is King over them. Of all lords of the earth, God is Lord over them. Of all authorities of the earth, all governments, all systems, structures, companies, universities...God over all. He is immortal, too bright to behold, invisible Spirit, and He is to be honored above all. He is the almighty, the I am, the I am who I will be. He is the God who reveals to us in Exodus 33.19:
“I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”
This is the very definition of what it means to be sovereign, the freedom to do as God chooses. Yet God will not do anything outside of His character of holiness, justice, love, grace, and mercy. And here is the good news: God has chosen to send His only Son to die for us, to be raised up for us, and to come again for us. God has chosen this path of grace and mercy for His people.
Much has been said and written on the meaning of God’s sovereignty and its relationship to things like election, free will, predestination, and the problem of evil. I often recall Psalm 131 when I get into the study of such things: O Lord, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. 2But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. 3O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. God’s sovereignty is seen all through Scripture, and yet it is because of the majesty and power and awesome nature of what sovereignty means that we sometimes need to “not occupy ourselves with things too great and too marvelous.” These things go beyond our mental abilities to comprehend. God is, in this way of thinking, like no other god. There is no god like our God. We may not be able to fully know in our minds the fullness of God’s sovereignty, but we can fully believe in His sovereignty, and thus, live in complete faithfulness trusting that God has the whole world in His hands. This is our sovereign God. Amen.
