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What is the Church?: Part II
Part II: Household of God
Read What is the Church? Part I first.
This one took awhile to transfer my thoughts to paper. It may need some editing and will most likely evolve over the next few weeks. I welcome feedback if you have some.
"When Scripture talks about church, it means community. The little fellowships of the heart that are outposts of the kingdom. A shared life. They worship together, eat together, pray for one another, go on quests together. They hang out together, in each other's homes. When Peter was sprung from prison, 'he went to the house of Mary the mother of John' where the church had gathered to pray for his release (Acts 12:12)"
John Eldredge, Waking the Dead"
Picking up right where I left off, God designed the church to be His community of people, His household. He laid out in scripture through His apostles how His church should function and be put together. Christ designed the global Church (as a world wide community) to extend to the ends of the earth, to include all people, and to be for all time (Matthew 28:19-20). He also designed the local churches that make up the larger worldwide Church to function as a family of families, as households of God. In part 2 of this series I'm going to layout how these households of God were crafted in scripture and the implications for us today.
"God's design for the local church is for it to be a family of families with strong, intergenerational roots: a powerful force in raising children, in building strong marriages, and in cultivating an intergenerational heritage that grows stronger generation by generation. In reality, more than 60% of the children in our Western churches are failing to continue with the faith as they establish their own households."
Jeff Reed, Belonging to a Family of Families
This quote is taken from a learning resource created by our head pastor, Jeff Reid. I believe that raising children, building strong marriages, and cultivating a strong intergenerational heritage is exactly what we need today. As Jeff pointed out, our children our leaving the faith, the divorce rate is higher than its ever been, and many of the older generation whose wisdom we dearly need have packed up and moved south. God designed His church to be a stronghold for His gospel and I believe we need to get back to His design.
"To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places."
Ephesians 3:8-10 (NASB) (emphasis added)
I used the NASB translation here because I like the word they use, administration. What does that mean? Paul is saying here that he has a two-fold job description: to preach the gospel and to "bring to light what is the administration of the mystery". We've already discovered that the mystery for which he is speaking is both Jew and Gentile being one in the same body and fellow heirs to the promise of God. The word 'administration' comes from two words used originally in Greek: "house" (oikos) and "law" (nomos). It literally means "house law" or "house order" and is often translated "plan". So Paul's job is to preach the gospel and bring to light the house order of the church, through which the manifold wisdom of God will be made known. So once again there's something bigger about this. There's something in God's plan for the church that is new, that is different from what was going on at the time. Jew and Gentile are together in one body, which is definitely different for the time this letter was written. But there's also the order of the body which plays a big part of God's plan. God's creating a new family, a new people. Starting in the Pentateuch, God's always wanted a people, a family. God used Jacob's family to become the nation of Israel. Now He's expanded that family through the blood of Christ, bringing all who accept His gift of salvation to Him through Christ's blood into one family comprised of many households.
Familial language is used throughout much of the whole text of the bible. In the Genesis God promises Abraham many descendants. The families of the children of Jacob become the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel, God's people. God promises King David that his offspring shall rule forever. Jesus prays to His Father. Family is very important to God as is His Church.
In the New Testament letters Paul and Peter both write sections in some of their letters that are known as the household texts. Through these texts Paul and Peter were laying out how the household community of God was to function (Titus 2:1-15, 1 Timothy 5:1-25) and also how individual households which comprise the community household were to function (Ephesians 5:22-6:9, Colossians 3:18-4:1, 1 Peter 3:1-7).
For individual households they lay out:
- the husband and wife relationship (the husband as head of household giving up his life for his wife, the wife has the husbands helper and overseer of the household)
- parents and children relationship (honoring parents, bringing children up in the instruction of the Lord)
- slave and master relationship (many households in this period of time had indentured servants, slaves serve masters as they would the Lord, masters treat slaves fairly and kindly)
For the community household they lay out:
- how older men are to act (sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith and love)
- how older women are to act (teach younger women, sober-minded)
- how younger women are to act (love husbands and children, pure, kind)
- how younger men are to act (self-controlled)
Why does it matter whether or not our individual and community households are laid out this manner or not? The church is to be the "pillar and buttress of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15) and Christ designed the church so it would be united and strengthened against any opposition that came along. Remember, the church is God's plan since the beginning, the existence and preservation of the church is extremely important to the unfolding of His plan. Laying out a design for the church seems essential, just as when building a complex and important building, sticking to the blueprint is of utmost importance.
This plays into one last point. In order for a local community household to be strong, it must be made of strong individual households. There is a sort of over-under level of priority that emerges. If your individual family is in need they become your priority just as if your local community household is in need it becomes your priority. In order for one to be strong, both must be strong. I'm not saying that only people in a strong local church community can have a strong individual household, but if that household is a part of a larger firmly founded community household it will strengthen it even more.
A well grounded understanding of these principles has a natural working-out in someone's life. A commitment to one's own individual household and also a commitment to the local household of God to which you are part of that family. And as in every family, the family doesn't function unless everyone is playing their part, not just the people who are paid to be part of the church, but every member of the family must step up and play their part.
Read What is the Church?: Part III next.
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Blando's Blog
Disciple of Christ, Husband, Father, and IT-guy.
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