Pillars

I Timothy 3:15
“but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.”
The Church is the pillar and ground of the truth, not the state. The state has a viable place. It is indeed a noble place for a Christian to “bring in the kingdom, but the Church is the house of God. The Church, the New Testament says, has the keys of the kingdom.
To think that democracy and having with it a slick president can save us and fix all our problems is blasphemous. This error is strong in our country. We must repent of our almost messianic and religious fervor for the impotent American political system to save and to do much real good.
The Ephesian Christians that received this letter from Paul would get Paul’s point exactly when he wrote that the Church is the pillar and support of the truth. Why would they? Because when Paul mentioned the words “pillar” and “support” of the household of God it most likely would have reminded them of their own city, Ephesus, where the Roman Empire had put huge pillars of the goddess Artemis. Her image was carved into the pillars that supported the temple. There were six pillars their where in Acts 19 the people cried out for at least two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” It is obvious that they would be passionate about voting in Artemis, were she on the ballot in the local temple! Rome, her Caesar and her gods were quite methodical and careful to make sure that the whole world knew that she was the true truth and power of the world. Rome was very much a religious state of nationalistic fever. Paul is saying to them, Jesus’ kingdom is the true truth and you believers are the true pillars of this truth being the pillars of the household of God, not the giant and magnificent 6 pillars of Artemis holding up that idolatrous house.
May we always remember that Jesus is Lord over all spheres of power in the world, including the American Empire. Some would protest that we are not anywhere close to that of the brutal empire of Rome. That may be true, but the time to recognize our swift movements to more and more evil empire are never greater than now. The Church is the household of God and those pillars and supports of the truth are those members of His body, you, the Church. Let us ask God for forgiveness for our own idolatries and our nation’s idolatry of the state over Christ. Let us kneel before our King confessing our sins, our nation,