Life in the Household of God | Sermon August 28, 2022

Possible Flow

Opening illustration

Moving houses (personal, how many times we’ve moved, opportunity to sell on top)

Difference between living in a house like it’s your home, versus living in your house like it’s just an investment opportunity (draw these out)

PUNCHLINE: How many people today are treating church like it’s a temporary investment rather than a home to live in? (again, draw these out)

Scripture Reading

1 Timothy 3:14-15 “14 I write these things to you, hoping to come to you soon. 15 But if I should be delayed, I have written so that you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.”

Other Scriptures:

Eph 2:19 “19 So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household,”

Gal 6:10 “10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.”

Household of God

Spectrum of Bad Ecclesiology

Nomadic Christianity

“Me and Jesus”

Anti-church

The organized church may actually be a threat to the purity of one’s own relationship with Jesus

Golden Corral Christianity

“Feed me!”

Me-centered church

For the church, so long as it benefits me and suits my tastes

Biblical Picture: The Household of God

The life of God’s people happens within the structure of the church, not outside it.

Use diagram? Quickly hit the sections. Move to focus on “communal space” inside the home: living in a fellowship marked by love and holiness.

How do we do this at Forest Hill?

Primary means: Bridge Groups

How are Groups different from me and some moms from other places getting together on a weekday morning for coffee? Or me and some guys in my neighborhood grabbing a beer and talking about spiritual things? Or watching Youtube sermons from other churches during the week to feed my faith?

All those things may be great supplements. But they shouldn’t be the main diet.

The main diet should be committed relationships with those who have covenanted together under the same spiritual leadership so that there is direction and accountability.

DIRECTION: spiritual guidance in doctrine, vision for community, how believers “ought” to live in the household, etc.

ACCOUNTABILITY: church discipline, shared values/morality/ethics/doctrine

When you row together in the same boat, you go faster and farther than if you’re all separated into individual boats, rowing at different speeds and paces, with different people.