The Household of God

We come to the close of this section on elders church government.

Paul explains why he has been so detailed in his description, which is why we have spent so much time going over this topic. So that you might know how to behave in the household of God.

These instructions are so that you will know how God’s house is to operate.

Read Passage

Something you will notice when you go to different people’s households, they all run a little different.

People have different customs, different traditions.

These traditions mold and shape the people within the household into a family.

Every family builds a small culture based off of how the parents operate the household.

Do we eat at the table, on the couch?

Do we pray?

Do we sing after we pray?

Is there family worship? If so, how does that look?

Is it a culture where the parents do everything or where the children learn to work for the growth of the family?

God is saying, “this is how I want my family to operate.”

God gives us freedom to develop church culture, but He also gives us standards to stay within.

We’ve spoken about how these qualifications aren’t only for the elders, but for the everyone in the family of God.

v.15- You may know

Paul says these things are given, so you will know how to behave.

Not just how the leadership will work.

But this states how the people within the household of God are supposed to act.

Remembering that it begins with the headship in a household.

There is a saying, as goes the father, so goes the household.

As goes the elders, so goes the church.

This is why he has written about the importance of elders. Why we have been covering elders for so long.

That we might know how to organize the household of God.

We should be examining our church.

Do we have leadership within the church that is spelt out in scripture?

Within the church household, what type of a culture do we have?

What type of a culture do we desire to have?

The culture of the church, will effect the culture of the community where that church is planted.

v.15b

Pillar and Buttress

There is an interesting parallel that Paul loves to use in His writings between the people of God and the temple.

One thing that stand out to me, is how precise the details are for the layout of the temple, the artifacts in the temple, the order of worship.

1 Chronicles 28:9-11, 19-20.

Here is David giving the instruction to Solomon, to build the temple.

The plans were very specific in things it was to contain. Why?

The temple was the place where the glory of God dwelt.

Where people would come to meet with God.

The temple was also the center of their culture. For their lives were built around the worship of God.

We desire beauty and glory demonstrated in the places and the ways that we worship.

To the sports fans, giant stadiums built to worship in.

To the workaholics, giant sky scrapers built with great architecture to show their pomp and greatness.

What is our culture built around?

What are the things that are of great importance to us, and how do we show that they are important?

The temple is a type, a foreshadow of the church.

Here in the Old Covenant, it is a precise place to worship, a place to meet.

The place where forgiveness of sins was made. It is where people gathered to be in the presence of God.

That was fulfilled with Christ, who now is over the church.

Jesus says: “where two or three are gathered, I am in their midst.”

If God was so particular about the place where the people would worship in the Old Covenant, would He stop caring in the New Covenant?

We understand that the Old Covenant, and the New Covenant are different. For all the covenant’s in the Old Testament point forward to Jesus. They were types and foreshadows.

However we cannot unhinge ourselves from the Old Covenant, for even though the greater thing have come. The different laws and practices were put there for a purpose.

Paul uses the imagery of temple to express what the church(the people) should be.

Just as David was giving instruction on how the temple was to look. Paul is now giving instruction, on how the church is to look.

Just like God was particular in how the temple was to operate, so God is particular on how the church is to operate.

Ephesians 2:19-22

Jesus Christ being the cornerstone.

The apostles and prophets.

Understand that this means the writings, what we call the bible.

That sets the foundation.

This is why in our church we do not believe in ongoing revelation and that the word of God is still coming.

It is done, it is set.

That was the foundation.

You know what a horrible time to pour a foundation is? When your installing cabinets.

We, as the body of believers, are all being built together into a temple for the Lord.

We are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.

This is what Paul is speaking of in his letter to Timothy which was probably written close to the same time as Ephesians.

We must understand, this is Paul’s reason for writing the letter.

So they would know how the temple of God, the household of God; how it was to operate.

For the the church was different that any other temple around. For it is the temple of the Living God.

Living God

The God we serve is distinct.

He isn’t a lifeless piece of wood or Gold. He is alive. Moves among and in the lives of His people.

This is why God says

Jeremiah 31:33

Jeremiah 31:33 ESV

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

He writes His law on the hearts of His people. Then He indwells His people, he sanctifies His people.

The church serves a living God, who is always reforming His church.

Buttress of Truth

The church is the temple of the living God, and we are the buttress of truth.

The church is what supports the truth in this world.

Not becasue we are more highly educated.

Not becasue we have figured out the source by self contemplation.

NO! The truth doesn’t come from us.

We are a buttress of truth becasue we are people of the book.

John 17:17

John 17:17 ESV

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

The word of God is the truth, and we follow the word of God.

We are coming to God’s word to be sanctified, to be changed.

When we say come to us for truth, it isn’t because we give them our knowledge, but because we point them to Jesus.

By doing so, we are the light of the world.

We expose the errors, the heresies that exist around us.

Do not be afraid to stand against the culture when they are participating in things that are wrong.

That is when our light shines before men. When they see the difference in us.

The rest of verse 16 is probably the oldest church creed we have.

Creed

A statement of truth, a system of belief.

Manifested in the flesh

We know that John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

The word that is spoken about is Jesus Christ.

Jesus, was from the beginning, He has always been.

But in these later days, John 1:14 “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Only a man could be the new representative for mankind.

But only God could redeem man.

Therefore the unthinkable happened.

The spirit became flesh.

The omnipotent became vulnerable.

The creator became like His creation.

That through Him, man would be saved.

Vindicated by the Spirit

A reference to the resurrection.

Romans 1:4

Romans 1:4 ESV

and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,

Jesus being raised from the dead was God showing that all Jesus had said was true.

His resurrection proves that Jesus is God as He claimed to be.

The resurrection proves that we have forgiveness of sins and Jesus claimed.

The resurrection proves we who place our trust in Jesus Christ and serve Him as Lord will live eternally.

Seen by Angels

Jesus is greater than the angels.

They proclaimed His birth.

They ministered to him in the wilderness.

They announced his resurrection.

They witnessed his ascension.

Jesus is Lord of the angels.

Proclaimed Among the Nations

At Pentecost, the gospel was proclaimed to the nations.

People from all nations had gathered to Jerusalem for the feast.

The disciples were speaking in tongues where all of them heard the gospel being preached in their own tongue.

Paul even says....

Colossians 1:23

Colossians 1:23 ESV

if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Paul states that the world has heard the gospel.

Understanding that when they refer to the world, they mean the known world or the Roman empire.

But the statement in 1 Timothy and Colossians both state that Jesus was proclaimed to the nations.

Taken up in glory

Why isn’t Jesus with us today?

He is exalted at the right hand of the Father.

Where he mediates for us.

We hold these truths.

If we believe this, it means that Jesus is Lord.

If we believe Jesus is Lord, it means that He has established church government.

It also means that the church government are to be examples to the flock, and the rest of the church must strive for the same standards to live by, that are given to the leadership.

If we believe this creed (even the demons believe and tremble), then we must live the way he has called us to live. So we might be a glorious temple, built for our king.