Worship

Stewardship: Beyond the Temple Walls #1                       September 13, 2026
1 Timothy 4:1-16                                                                   Pastor Wolfe

Beyond Temple Walls to a Greater Responsibility

We are living in a time of Christianity’s decline in America. That’s not news. The rise of the “nones”, not the Catholic type but the people who say they have no religious affiliation has been well documented. The Pew Research Center conducts numerous surveys and polls every year and according to at least one model they predict the percentage of Americans who say they are Christian will go from 90 percent in 1970 to possibly as low as 35 percent by 2070. Our congregation has remained stable, and our Wisconsin Synod is declining more slowly than many, but the decline is real among us too.

What do I, as a pastor, have to say to all that? This might surprise you, but in a certain sense, I’m not surprised to see so many walk away from Christianity. If Christianity simply means that the church cares about having your name on a membership list, that you show up to a building a couple times a year to stay off the delinquent list, that you go through the motions of following the church rules without getting deeper in the Gospel promises, then yes, I don’t blame anyone for not wanting anything to do with that. I don’t blame any millennial or Gen Zer for seeing right through all that fakeness and face and not wanting to associate with it. So maybe before we lament the collapse of the institutional church in America, we should go back and see what it really means to be part of the church in the first place.

That’s why at the beginning of a year of discipleship focus for Salem, we’re doing this series on the concept of the temple. That’s why we’re taking a closer look at today’s Second Reading. As the apostle Paul is passing on the reins of ministry to a younger generation, to his protégé Timothy, he is giving a greater vision for what Timothy’s life and responsibility in the church can be. And it’s valuable to us because all these centuries later, God still give us the same call to a greater vision for what our life and responsibility in the church can be.

We’re living through a time of unprecedented change in the history of the American church, but when you think about it, it’s not all that unprecedented. The apostle Paul apparently received a special revelation from the Holy Spirit that predicted a time of large-scale false teaching (we call it “apostasy”) in the last days: “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” What would this look like? Droves and droves of people would abandon their parents’ faith and stop coming. They would give up any relationship with the church and instead turn their attention to what they’re hearing out in society. They would care more about the voices they hear outside the church than about the voices they hear inside the church. In Paul’s day the deceptive teachings were legalistic; he mentions restricting food and marriage, for example. Today it’s the opposite: a “live and let live” attitude where a person can live life however they want as long as it’s not hurting anyone else. Though we’re fighting on different fronts, we’re in the same battle against the devil, and Paul tells us to expect that some will abandon the faith. Many will. I can’t say it without thinking of kids I’ve confirmed, families I’ve shared time and tears with. I’m sure you can too. So what’s our response? Our response should not be, “Young people are ruining the church these days! If they hadn’t left, our church would still be so full!” Our response needs to double down on what it really means to be part of the church.

What was Timothy’s response to all this supposed to be? As a minister of Christ Jesus, he was to teach the truths of the faith and follow the truths of the faith. What follows are seven specific ways to carry out that responsibility, and significantly, they shift back and forth between doctrine and practice. First, do the hard work of spiritual training. “Train yourself to be godly.” Second, continue the responsibility of spiritual education. “Command and teach these things.” Third, live an exemplary life, even if Timothy was young, apparently in his early 30s. “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity.” Fourth, focus on the core activities of public worship. “Devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching.” Fifth, use your gifts. “Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.” Sixth, be fully committed. “Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.” Finally, pay attention to both doctrine and practice. “Watch your life and doctrine closely.” As the younger generations describe what they’re looking for – it’s all about talking the talk and walking the walk. You can’t have one without the other.

Today, many Americans see membership in the church as not all that different from membership in a store’s loyalty club. Get credit for showing up, enjoy a few perks as long as you’re using it, but not such a big deal to switch over to another if the other one has something else you’re looking for. American consumerism at its finest. But with the collapse of institutional Christianity and the concept of church membership rapidly changing, is our ministry still worth it? To us? To them? Definitely! Because Jesus has saved every single person in this world. It’s that simple. Jesus saved the world. He saved you. He forgave you for all the times you’ve quit on your neighbor because it’s too hard and too uncomfortable. Jesus’ undying love for the entire world makes it all worth it. As Paul says, “That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people.”

Now think about the kinds of people that feel like church isn’t for them. The Gen Zers with lattés in hand or full sleeves of tattoos who take one step into church and say, “I see a bunch of gray hair and tradition. This is never going to be my kind of crowd”—Jesus is their Savior and he died for them too. The women who’ve been told the church just wants to tell them what to do with their bodies and force them into a 1950s mold of staying home barefoot and pregnant—Jesus is their Savior too, and he died for them too. The skeptical college students who get the impression churches care more about dead theologians than the neighbors right outside who are trying to figure out their gender identity and spiritual views—Jesus is their Savior too, and he died for them too. The young people in our very church who’ve gone to catechism and church but are too scared to voice their doubts because they’re afraid they might be told they should already know it, or worse, “here’s the answer – get with the program.” Jesus is their Savior too, and he died for them. That’s why we labor and strive! It’s worth it because we’re talking about people—people whom Jesus loves, people whom Jesus saved, and people for whom Jesus died. It’s worth it because the church isn’t a building or an institution but a network of relationships we have with people forged together in the love of Christ.

So, disciples of Christ, it’s time for us to double down on what it means to be disciples. To be members of the church in the fully formed, biblically vibrant way we see in 1 Timothy chapter 4. It’s about both things, talking the talk and walking the walk. You can’t neglect doctrine and focus just on what you do. But you also can’t neglect what you do and focus only on doctrine.

Here are three practical applications for us this year. First, church membership is far more than attending church an hour a week—or a few times a year. Now granted, worship is the heart and core of what we do. There’s a reason Paul told Timothy to devote himself to preaching and teaching. But our spiritual life can’t be only that. As we’ll see in this series, Christianity is not about a church but a temple. It extends beyond these four walls into our every day as we fellowship and encourage and reach out and serve.

Second, our teaching and learning need to be not just things that we know but things that we do something with. So we teach and model for each other how to watch out for deceptive religious teachers AND how to interact with people of different beliefs with so much love and humility no one could call us hateful. In a world where many people expect Christians to be judgmental, cold, and closed – let’s be honest and humble and open. Let’s make every person who walks through our door or speaks to our members see clearly – our church is filled with THE church.

And finally, we need to go all in. The days of everyone being a member of a church and calling themselves Christian are passed. And it’s probably a good thing. It’s time to give ourselves wholeheartedly to this so that everyone inside and outside the church will see Christ in and through us. It’s time to talk the talk and walk the walk—with the prayer that God will save both ourselves and our hearers.

The future of American Christianity is a leaner, more refined, more committed, more robust, more sincere kind of a church. And you know what? That may be a smaller church, but it is a greater church. And we have the responsibility to make Salem that church. I long for the days when the skeptics will tell us, “You believe all the wrong things, but I can’t say anything bad about you, because you love people so much.” When they say, “I don’t get it, but I wish I had it too.” You see, Paul and Timothy might have longed for buildings and budgets like ours, but they were the ones who were truly blessed. Pray this week for yourselves and for our churches, that we might be disciples of Christ, bonded together as members of the Temple of God. And may God take that faith outside these temple walls by our life and example. Amen.