Paul writes a letter to Timothy instructing him on how the church should conduct itself. He says that if the church follows the instructions, Jesus will be "there" with them. He then states that the revelation of Jesus - that he came in the flesh, was vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, and taken up into glory - is the "mystery" or foundation of their faith. Even though this mystery is hard to understand fully, Christians must accept it as the truth and basis for how they live.

1. Is Jesus In Here?
1 Timothy 3:16

2. 1 Timothy 3:14 NET I hope to come to you
soon, but I am writing these instructions to
you 15 in case I am delayed, to let you
know how people ought to conduct
themselves in the household of God,
because it is the church of the living God,
the support and bulwark of the truth.

3. 16 And we all agree, our religion contains
amazing revelation: He was revealed in the
flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by
angels, proclaimed among Gentiles,
believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

4. 5 year old Johnny was in the kitchen as his
mother made supper. She asked him to go
into the pantry and get her a can of tomato
soup, but he didn’t want to go alone. “It’s
dark in there and I’m scared.” She asked
again and he persisted. Finally she said,
“It’s OK-Jesus will be in there with you.”

5. Johnny walked slowly to the door and
opened it. He peeked inside, saw it was
dark, and started to turn around - when
suddenly an idea came to him. He opened
the door again – peeked inside – and said:
“Jesus, if you’re in there, would you hand
me that can of tomato soup.”
The question for little Johnny was this: “Was
Jesus there?”

6. MAKE SURE JESUS WAS “THERE”
The apostle Paul had written a personal
letter to a young preacher protégé named
Timothy and basically told him to make sure
JESUS WAS “THERE” in the church he
served in Ephesus.

7. 1 Timothy 1:3 NET As I urged you when I
was leaving for Macedonia, stay on in
Ephesus to instruct certain people not to
spread false teachings, 4 nor to occupy
themselves with myths and interminable
genealogies. Such things promote useless
speculations rather than God’s redemptive
plan that operates by faith. 5 But the aim of
our instruction is love that comes from a
pure heart, a good conscience, and a
sincere faith.

8. Timothy was told instruct certain people not
to spread false teachings nor occupy
themselves with myths and interminable
genealogies.” In doing these they wouldn’t
keep the MAIN thing the MAIN THING!
The MAIN THING being God’s redemptive
plan that operates by faith.

9. Instead he was to make sure that the
people lived “a peaceful and quiet life in all
godliness and dignity.”
Timothy 2:1 NET First of all, then, I urge
that requests, prayers, intercessions, and
thanks be offered on behalf of all people, 2
even for kings and all who are in authority,
that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life in
all godliness and dignity.

10. In chapter 4 he stresses what Timothy
should presently focus his energy on.
1 Timothy 4:13 NET Until I come, give
attention to the public reading of scripture,
to exhortation, to teaching.

11. In the first 13 verses of chapter 3 Paul laid
out the characteristics/qualifications of
Elders, Deacons & even Deacon’s wives.

12. And then Paul wrote, I hope to come to you
soon, but I am writing these instructions to
you in case I am delayed, to let you know
how people ought to conduct themselves in
the household of God, because it is the
church of the living God, the support and
bulwark of the truth.
1 Timothy 3:14,15 NET

13. In other words, if the church that Timothy
served followed the instructions in Paul’s
letter they would truly be a church that
honored God. And Jesus would be "there."

14. But there’s a mystery here
Right after Paul makes this dramatic
comment stressing the importance of what’s
in this letter he writes:
1 Timothy 3:16 NET And we all agree, our
religion contains amazing revelation: He
was revealed in the flesh, vindicated by the
Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among
Gentiles, believed on in the world, taken up
in glory.

15. Reading that verse in context it seemed out
of place. It didn’t fit! It had absolutely no
bearing on the verses immediately
preceding it nor with those that follow.
One moment Paul’s writing about the
instructions the church needs to follow to be
pleasing to God, and the next, he’s talks
about some “amazing revelation” about
Jesus.

16. It would be something like me talking about
my plane crash. I’d be telling you about not
even remembering going to the airport that
day. My last recollection was eating at a
Taco Bell in Wichita, KS then the next thing
I knew I was being held hostage in a
hospital in Wichita being told I crashed my
plane in Kingman, KS a month ago. How all
the bones in my face had to be put back
together…

17. Then looking toward the west I say, “Oh, my
parents, little sister & I sure enjoyed riding
our motorcycles through the Colorado
Rockies every year!”
On the face of it, that’s how disconnected
verse 16 appeared to be from the verses
surrounding it. But then, looking a little
closer it all began to make sense.

18. You see, this letter to Timothy was all about
“godliness”. It was all about how we ought
to LIVE as God’s people. And if I OBEY the
instructions of godliness in this letter it
pleases God. And so Paul writes: our
religion contains amazing revelation.

19. Many versions translate amazing revelation
as mystery or secret. Thayers defines it:
hidden thing, secret, mystery
Isn’t it an amazing revelation when the
teams on CSI or Law & Order reveal the
mystery of who-dun-it?
A mystery is something that you can’t quite
understand.
If you could understand it, it wouldn’t be a
mystery would it?

20. 3 men were talking together in a hotel
lobby: One man said "I will not believe
anything that I do not understand."
The others agreed that it would be foolish to
believe something they couldn’t understand.
Sitting nearby there was another man who
looked up from his paper and said:
"Gentlemen, on my ride this morning I saw
some geese in a field eating grass; do you
believe that?"

21. "Certainly," said one of the 3 listeners.
"I saw the pigs eating grass; do you believe
that?"
"Of course," Said the 3.
"I also saw sheep and cows eating grass;
do you believe that?"
"Of course," was again the reply.

22. "Well, the grass turned to feathers on the
backs of the geese, to bristles on the backs
of the swine, to white wool on the sheep,
and to hair on the cow; do you believe that,
gentlemen?"
"Certainly," they replied.
"But do you understand it?"

23. You see, the nature of a mystery is that it
isn’t easily understood. And because
mysteries are hard to understand there are
people who rebel at the idea of accepting
those mysteries. As the man in the hotel
lobby had said: "I will not believe anything
that I do not understand."
People say that very thing: “If I can’t
understand it… I can’t accept it”

24. Tony Campolo was a theology professor in
a secular college and had a student once
who declared “For me to believe in God, I
have to have a God that I can understand.”
Campolo smiled as he replied “God refuses
to be that small.”
God refuses to be small enough for you or
me to fully understand.

25. In fact, it’s NOT POSSIBLE for us to fully
understand Him. God Himself declared:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, "declares
the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than
the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV

26. You will never fully understand God
because there will always be things about
God that will always be a mystery.
So now, Paul tells us “our religion contains
amazing revelation.”

27. What is THIS amazing revelation?
And we all agree, our religion contains
amazing revelation: He was revealed in the
flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by
angels, proclaimed among Gentiles,
believed on in the world, taken up in glory. 1
Timothy 3:16 NET

28. What’s Paul saying? He’s saying:
Jesus is our amazing revelation because
He was revealed in the flesh - appeared in
a body.
Jesus is our amazing revelation because
He had such power and authority that He
was vindicated by the Spirit, seen by
angels, and was taken up in glory.

29. Jesus is the amazing revelation of our
religion.
He is the foundation of all we say and do.
Jesus is the reason we should read what is
written in 1 Timothy and 2 Timothy and
Ephesians, and Romans, and Hebrews and
all the rest of Scripture. We should read
those letters because their contents contain
the type of godliness Jesus (our amazing
revelation) expects of us.

30. 2 Timothy 3:16 NET Every scripture is
inspired by God and useful for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, and for training in
righteousness, 17 that the person dedicated
to God may be capable and equipped for
every good work. This is where we started
this journey of 3:16s of the Bible.
The Bible is not a collection of the writings
of clever men. It is not a library of the
thoughts and concepts of highly moral
theologians.

31. THESE are the words of God. When we
obey what is written within the pages of this
book, when we attempt to mold our lives
around what is written in a letter like this
one Paul wrote to Timothy - then we are
pursuing godliness. We are attempting to
make our lives pleasing to God.

32. What if I don’t agree with
something that’s written in the Bible?
What if something that Paul wrote, or John
wrote, or Luke wrote… what if something in
one of the writings offends me? What if I
don’t like what I’m reading? Well, you don’t
have to like with what’s written,
BUT you DO need to understand:
The Bible is not a smorgasbord.

33. You don’t get to pick and choose what
you’re going to accept. You don’t get to vote
on what you like and what you don’t like.
You don’t get to tell Jesus "I’ll take a little of
this and a little of that… and we’ll just have
to agree to disagree on the rest."
NO… you can’t do it that way.

34. The reason Paul tells us that Jesus is the
amazing revelation of our religion is
because:
Jesus is the final authority.
This is HIS book
AND this is HIS church.
He sets the standards.
He tells us what is expected.
He can do that BECAUSE Jesus is the one
who bought the church with His blood.

35. No person has the right to alter one
command or instruction given within the
pages of the Bible. If we agree to THIS
standard then Jesus will be IN this church…
and Jesus will be in our lives.
Too often Christians… and even churches
fall into a trap of saying: “I know that’s what
the Bible says… but,” our creed says, our
book of discipline maintains, our church has
always taught.

36. One preacher of a denominational church
said something like this, “I know what the
Bible says, but we’ve become more
cultured than the 1st century church. We’ve
advanced to the point where we can make
improvements on what they did back then.”
You know what these people are saying?
They’re saying “We took a vote… and we
made a few changes to make things more
comfortable.”

37. What they basically did was substitute
men’s reasoning for God’s. They have
substituted the doctrines and teaching of
men for the Word of God.
This does not please Jesus!
Jesus said: and they worship me in vain,
teaching as doctrines the
commandments of men.’”
(Isa 29:13)
Matthew 15:9 NET

38. In other words, if we substitute what we
prefer for what God has said our worship
becomes
Vain,
Empty,
Worthless,
You don’t want to go there!

39. This church doesn’t want to go there
either
The Churches of Christ/ Christian churches
have no creeds. We have no books of
doctrine. Why? Because we want to avoid
(at all costs) of falling into the trap of putting
man’s doctrines above the teachings of
God. That doesn’t mean we won’t fall into
that error. It simply means we endeavor
NEVER to say more than the Bible
teaches… nor less.

40. Instead of “CREEDS” there are “mottos” we
try to abide by.
“Where the Bible speaks we speak, where
the Bible is silent we’re silent”
“No book but the Bible, No creed but Christ,
No law but love”
The whole purpose of those mottos is to
remind us that Jesus and His Word MUST
be our ultimate authority. That doesn’t mean
we’re always going to be successful… but it
does mean that’s our fundamental
objective.

41. One last thought…
Paul tells us that Jesus is “the amazing
revelation of our religion.”
I want to share a story and then I’ll tell you
this last thought.
A couple hundred years or so ago in
Europe, the custodian (also called a
Sexton) of a beautiful cathedral was putting
things in order for the next days worship.

42. This Cathedral was widely renowned for its
beautiful pipe organ, and it seemed the
entire front of the stage was dominated with
the pipes of the organ. And when it was
played, it sounded like the angels of
heaven.
On this particular Saturday, the custodian
was disturbed to see a visitor enter through
the doors and approach him. The stranger
wanted to know if he could look at the organ
which he had heard so much about.

43. The sexton was not sure he wanted a
stranger to get so close to their celebrated
instrument, but he conceded as long as this
man didn’t touch it. The visitor went over to
the organ and lovingly took in its beauty,
and then he pleaded that he be allowed just
to play it for a short while. Annoyed, the
custodian almost turned down this request.

44. But something in the man’s eyes and
manner changed his heart and he allowed
this man to play, but only if he returned all
the stops to their positions when he
finished.
The stranger seated himself at the organ
and began to play, softly at first and then
building to a powerful crescendo.

45. The custodian was startled to hear such
beautiful music coming from the pipes and
for a time he lost himself in the flow of its
emotions. All too soon, the organist was
finished, put the stops back again and was
walking down the aisle to leave. “Wait,”
cried the sexton, “that was the most
beautiful music I have ever heard. What is
your name?”

46. The stranger turned and smiled. “My name
is Felix Mendelssohn.
Commenting later to a friend, the custodian
said “Just think, I almost kept the master
from playing his music in my cathedral.”
Paul tells us that Jesus is the amazing
revelation of our religion. Thus: We can
attain godliness ONLY because Jesus is the
amazing revelation of our religion.

47. We can be godly only if Jesus plays His
music in the cathedral of our lives. Jesus is
what makes us godly.
You could obey every instruction in 1
Timothy.
You could abide by every command in the
New Testament.
You could pray every day and attend church
every Sunday.

48. But if Jesus is not IN your life… Then you
will never be godly in the eyes of the Father.
Colossians 1:27 NET God wanted to make
known to them the glorious riches of this
mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ
in you, the hope of glory.
Now we know the answer; “this mystery… is
Christ in you, (which is) the hope of glory”

49. Is Christ in you?
How much do you let Jesus influence your
life?
We all know the meaning of the letters
WWJD. What Would Jesus Do
Let’s add a few letters,
WWJWMDRN
What Would Jesus Want Me Doing Right
NOW!
Let Jesus influence
EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR LIFE!