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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/william-skates/the-assembly-pictured-as-the-house-of-god-and-a-body/
Let's turn to 1 Timothy, please, chapter 3. Now, 1 Timothy, chapter 3, and we'll read from verse 14. Paul is writing to Timothy, he says, These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly.
But if I tarry long, if he's delayed, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. The church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
Let's come back to the book of Genesis, please, chapter 28. Genesis and chapter 28. We're going to read about the first mention of house of God. Verse 10. So the promises made to Abraham were reiterated again.
Now to Jacob. Verse 15. Now notice this. And said, how dreadful is this place. This is none other but the house of God. And this is the gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morning and so on.
Now come back to 1 Corinthians, please, chapter 12. 1 Corinthians, chapter 12. So we have a metaphor that's used in relation to the local church, the local assembly, and that is the house of God. Now come to 1 Corinthians 12 and verse number 12.
For as the body, the human body, is one and has many members, and all members of that body are one, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. So he applies that metaphor of the human body to Christ.
Verse 13. That's everyone who is saved in this dispensation are baptized into one body spirit baptism. Whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into or drink in one spirit.
For the body, this is the human body now, is not one member but many. And he goes on to describe the features and the functioning and the balance in the human body. Now I'm not going to take time to read through those verses.
I'll call upon your memory. But notice verse 25, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it, or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.
Now, ye are body of Christ. The definite article is not there in the text. Ye are body like in character, body of Christ. And members in particular. Now that's our reading. We trust with the Lord's blessing.
Further to what we have heard already this morning. So two metaphors used of the local assembly. House of God, and we notice there in the context that there is an expected behavior in it. In house of God.
And then we have read about the human body and how he applies that metaphor to the local assembly. And we just want to simply notice there is an expected balance in it. In the body of Christ. Now, in regards to house of God, Paul uses that metaphor to describe the assemblies.
He writes to Timothy. He wants to come to meet Timothy there in Ephesus. But there is a possibility he might be delayed. And so in the meantime, we have this letter that Paul writes to Timothy. And he is dealing with church matters, a lot of church matters in this particular epistle.
And so he is writing about the assembly in Ephesus. And he calls it house of God. And how that Timothy and those who are in the assembly should know how to behave in house of God. Which is the church, the called out company, the ecclesia, the called out company of the living God.
The pillar and ground of the truth. So in the house of God, you have the people of God. That is those who are in the family of God, right? In the family of God. And they are meeting together with God in a company that he has called together.
And so it is called house of God. It's the called out company of the living God. And he says it is the pillar. That is to uphold the truth. The pillar of the truth. To uphold the truth in testimony. And the ground of truth, the basis to support the truth.
Now, in the New Testament, there is a word that is used that is instructive to us in this context. And it is the word oikonomia. Oikonomia. It simply means stewardship. It is translated often as stewardship.
And it means the management of a household. House management. House management. So a steward would be one who would be responsible to the master of the house for the order that pertains in the house. And that steward would be responsible to implement the mind of the master as to the order that pertains in his house.
And the assembly is called house of God. So we have a responsibility now to ensure that the order that God has given in his word as to how it relates to the local assembly should be implemented and carried out.
Now, while the local assembly of which we speak is absolutely exclusive to the New Testament from the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 all the way through until the rapture of the church, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 in that period of time there have been across this world and here in the city of La Crosse and in other companies represented there have been local assemblies the Bible calls house of God.
It is exclusive to the New Testament. Yet, having said that, the concept of house of God is also found in the Old Testament. And we're going back to first principles now when we turn in our Bibles to Genesis chapter 28 where we've read and for the first time in our Bible we have the expression the house of God.
Bethel, Genesis 28, where Jacob had this encounter with God. Jacob is fleeing from Esau and he's on his way to Haran. And on the journey he comes to this certain place, its old name was called Luz, and he lies down, it's late in the evening, and so he lies down, he's tired, he lays on the ground and takes a stone and puts a stone for a pillow.
And Jacob dreams. God was in it. But Jacob dreamed a dream and he saw this stairway to heaven. And he saw that the Lord stood above it. And impressed on Jacob's heart is this truth. There is the authority of God here.
The authority of God is here. The Lord stood above it. And then in his dream he observed how that the angels were going up and down upon this interface between heaven and earth, upon this stairway. The angels going up and down and impressed on Jacob's heart is the truth of the administration of God.
The administration of God. The authority of God, the administration of God. And then he says in verse 16, as he, when he awoke, he said, surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not. The impact of the revelation.
The Lord is here. The awesome presence of God is here in this place. The awesome presence of God. And so he says, this is the house of God. The house of God. And there's the thought in the house of accommodation.
This is an accommodation of God. A place where God is dwelling. Accommodation of God. And he was afraid and said, how dreadful is this place. This is none other but the house of God. And this is the gate of heaven.
Now if you were to write over Jacob's attitude when he said that, one word, what would it be? The word I've chosen is reverence. Reverence. The fear of the Lord fits right in, doesn't it? How dreadful is this place.
This is none other but the house of God. And this is the gate of heaven. And it inspired reverence in Jacob's heart. When he was aware of the presence of the Lord in this place. In this place. Now since the assembly is called house of God, let's apply those thoughts very simply.
In the assembly of God there is the authority of God. It's not your assembly nor mine to do what we like with it. God must have the say and God must have his way. The authority of God is over it. Because the administration of God must be carried on in the various functions of the saints that gather to his name.
And as they gather in his name, there is the awesome presence of the Lord there. Where two or three are gathered in my name. You can apply that to the local company gathered in his name. Because it is a place that it is an accommodation for God.
House of God where the presence of God is known. So there is divine order in God's assembly. There is his administration. It is the gate of heaven. And the thought of the gate is the thought of government.
There is responsibility and those that are responsible in it. And it's lovely to come to the New Testament, isn't it brothers and sisters? And discover that the assembly is indeed a place of order, a place of administration, and a place of government.
And where this is recognized and where this is practiced according to the word of God, then that company actually gathers in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Representing his interests and representing his authority over their lives as individuals and over that company collectively as a corporate body.
And it is expected that when an assembly is functioning in house of God that there would be an impact upon those that are observing. The impact of the revelation upon Jacob. And so there's an expected impact upon those that occupy what 1 Corinthians calls the seat of the unlearned.
So that those who are believers, who are coming in and observing the functioning of God's assembly, they will fall down on his face, we read, and he will report that God is in you of a truth. This is where God is.
This is the presence of God that I'm experiencing and knowing. This is God's order of things being carried out according to the mind of God and the word of God. So let me ask you, my dear brother, my dear sister, this morning.
Does the presence of God still inspire reverence in our hearts? Are we conscious? Are we switched on and aware? When the saints gather in his name that God is in this place, there's an expected behavior that's associated with that.
Primarily, it is marked by reverence, godly fear, and a submission to the word of God and obedience to carry it out according to the mind of God. So Jacob then, at the end of that little narrative, we find that Jacob is actively worshipping there.
And he takes that pillar, he raises it up, he changes the name of the place from Luz, which means separation, to Bethel, meaning house of God. Separation. Separation. You have that thought in the called out company from the world.
Separated from the world. But then he calls it Bethel, house of God. That's called out onto God in a very positive way, and this place is a different place to him now. When he grasps that truth, that God is here, it's no longer a kind of a drudgery, this idea of a negative separation, but now it's positive!
It's gathered onto him! Onto his name, where his presence is known. And where his authority is over the company. Now more could be said on that, I'm going to leave that because we want to come to this other metaphor we read about, the human body, and the expected balance in it.
A human body has many members. And yet, obviously, it is an entity in itself. The various members of our bodies have a role to play, and they have their own sphere in which they function. So my thumb has a different function from my ear, and so on.
And yet, each has a responsibility. Each one has a stewardship, if you will, to carry out a function, and function for the good of the whole of the body. Another thought was the human body is the thought of growth.
We have some children with us here this morning, and in the process of time, all things being equal, those dear children will experience growth. And though they have all the members of the body there, yet that body will grow.
And the same idea pertains to the local assembly. It is a place where believers are found and though they are though they are, when initially saved, described as babes in Christ, yet it is a place for spiritual growth.
Spiritual growth. And so you can come, for example, to the scripture we have there in Ephesians chapter 4, where it is the whole church that's in view, but nevertheless, we can apply those truths. Speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
And so what applies in that context applies to the local assembly, where it is a sphere in which Christians can grow, be nourished, be edified, be helped by those that God has raised up to be teachers and instructors in the assembly.
Now in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul has in mind, no doubt, certainly at the beginning of the chapter and right at the end of the chapter, he has in mind various spiritual gifts and abilities that God has given that were to function in the assembly at Corinth for the good of all the saints.
And so it's very fitting then that he uses this metaphor of the human body. Now one thing about the human body which hardly goes without saying, and yet Paul emphasized it, is the fact that there's no monopoly in the body.
No monopoly in the human body. If all was an eye, how could we hear? And there's no jealousy in the human body. The foot doesn't want to be a hand, nor the hand wants to be a foot, nor the ear wants to be an eye, and so on.
No jealousy. Each member in the body has its own function, and it has its own place to function in that company. Verse 14, for the body is not one member, but many. There's a multitude of members and abilities, various abilities in the body, and yet all are to function for the good of the whole.
Now what does that highlight for us in this day and age in which we live? Well, one glaring thing as you look at Christendom as a whole is this highlights for us the wrong idea of a modern day pastor who gets up and does the praying, who chooses what hymns to sing, who chooses where to read and speak, and he always does the speaking, and he's the one who is to care for the flock and to go around and do all that needs to be done in that regard.
And he has the say, and he has the authority, and it's so there was one member in the body. This is Paul in verse 19, and if they were all one member, where were the body? The human body is not afflicted by independence.
The eye needs the hand, and the head needs the feet, and they're all working together for the good of that body, and in the assembly it is the same thing. There should be no independence in the body. Each one is dependent upon the other.
There's a sympathy in that body, so that if the foot is sore, the whole walk of that body is affected. There's a limp. And the comely members, says Paul, they help the uncomely members. There's a unity in the body, so that if one member suffers, the other suffers with it.
And if one member rejoices and is honored, the other members rejoice with it. And so it should be in the local assembly of saints that gather to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, gathering under his authority, under his lordship, not gathering to some doctrine, and using that as a label, or gathering to some practice, even though it might be a scriptural practice, and using that as a label.
Paul deals with that in the first chapter, doesn't he? This business of using labels. I'm a Paul, I'm a Paulist, and so on. You don't want to do that. For simply Christians that gather together in the name under the authority and in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, with a mutual care, one for another, helping each other in love, and serving according to the ability that God has given to each one of us.
We're just a simple group of believers meeting in his name, for his honor, to enjoy his presence together, and where his word has the only authority. And we seek to reverence him in the sphere in which we are found.
Now, let me say this. A body has a head, all right? And Paul will speak of that, in actual fact, he speaks of that in the previous chapter, in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. And he shows that God is the head of Christ, Christ is the head of man, and man is the head of the woman.
And he will even dip back into God's order of creation, way back there in Genesis, as the basis of the teaching that is given in 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Let me just say this. Both males and females in God's assembly have a responsibility to express the headship of Christ, that in all things Christ may have the preeminence.
Paul does not appeal to cultural norms in Corinth or at any other time in history. Paul's appeal is to uphold the order that God gave in God's creation. And so on that basis, men uncover their heads and have short hair.
And on that basis, the sisters have long hair and cover their heads. And so Christ, by both males and females, is put on display symbolically by their actions. I can't stay with that in 1 Corinthians chapter 11.
In God's assembly, his order pertains in the fact that there are elders, there are shepherds, there are overseers, there are leaders that go before the people of God. Now you'll notice we're using the words in the plural because that's how the New Testament treats those words in the plural.
And we find that those men must be blameless Titus chapter 1 verse 7 as the steward of God. You see they have their responsibility in God's assembly. And that is described as a good work. Leaders in God's assembly are ordinary men, motivated by a strong desire to please the Lord and to care for the saints of God.
That is a desire that is begotten by the Spirit of God within them. And true dedicated leadership, let me say this, is the one crying need amongst the people of God the world over. Men that have a spiritual burden who are qualified to take the lead amongst the saints.
Some are qualified but lack the courage and commitment to assume responsibility that God would entrust to them. Others would want place and maybe are not qualified. And so there's a balance needed, isn't there?
Men that are fitted, raised up of God. And thank God for those who are qualified and are serving well as God enables. So let me just close with this. An assembly then is a place that has God's order to it.
It's a place where we comply and submit to his order without corrupting it. Where we find the authority of God over it as in the house of God. His administration is in it. It's an accommodation for God because his awesome presence is known and felt there.
And as a body it is marked by unity where each member is functioning harmoniously with others for the good of the whole. So house of God expected behavior and the human body as a metaphor and that brings before us the expected balance and the behavior again of each member that makes up the number.
So may the Lord then bless his word.