Life (including Homeschooling) Is All About God

My wife and I have been homeschooling our children for 16 years now. Homeschooling is not always fun but one of its blessings is that, as parents, we could spend a lot of time with our children and our children see us most of the time. They feel secure and they enjoy family time a lot. Yes, we want to build a close family, of course! However, we don’t want to build a family that is inherently toxic, in that, the family is the be all and end all, and everybody else out there is bad or unimportant. Some families are built that way. It’s me and the family! But that’s not life is all about!

The way to prevent that is to show our children with our own life and our own conversation that everything revolves around God and His glory. Remember that we are just one family among many that are trying to serve God around the world. Our children’s lives must be oriented toward this principle of “Soli Deo Gloria” (To God alone be the glory!). That’s important!

As homeschooling parents our lives are exposed to our children. They know a lot about us and they are greatly influenced by our character, habits, decisions, likes and dislikes. On the one hand, this is good because as we live out our faith, as we learn to obey God and follow the Lord Jesus Christ, not only in good times but also in bad times, our children will catch much of what we want them to learn from us, that is, that life, as a battle, must be lived coram Deo (in the face of God), by the grace and power of God, and for the glory of God. Our children must understand that we can’t live life on our own strength but must depend on God all the time. He alone gives us the grace and power to live a God-glorifying life.

Yet on the other hand, this is also scary especially when they see a lot of our hypocrisy and laziness and inconsistencies and anxieties and uncontrolled temper and other bad habits. It’s humiliating to see that as homeschoolers we see a lot of our sinfulness, bad tempers and laziness and lack of zeal in our children.

This is not of course a hopeless situation. We learn a lot from our mistakes and so we try to address the matter by talking to our children, confessing our sins and weaknesses to them and pointing them to the ultimate solution to our sin-problem and our perfect life-example of all, our Lord Jesus Christ.

So our children must learn and see from us – fathers and mothers – that the most important thing in their lives is to do what God wants us to do: to live for His glory and to serve and worship Him with gladness in their hearts. Worship is the most important thing. And the apex of all of that, at least in this life, is public worship – the gathering of God’s people in His presence every Lord’s Day. Corporate worship where God is greatly delighted in meeting with His people, renewing covenant with them and ministering to His saints, is the highest point of all our worship.

So our children must know from our lips, from our prayers and from our life-example so that when they go up to God’s house of worship this is the highlight of the week. This is a grand and glorious time of encounter with the Almighty God. And God is going to be speaking to us. That’s a great thing!

But they must also know that when they do school, every day and every class hour is to be lived to the glory of God. They are to use their mind to the very best of their abilities not just to get good grades to impress father and mother, so they can look through report card and say, “That was great son!”, but more so to use their mind and intellect to the best of their ability because they are to glorify God.

That's why we always need to impress this teaching to our children’s heart – that all of life is for the glory of God. It has to keep on going all their lives because there is every tendency in every man’s deceitful heart, and that includes our children’s heart, to reject this principle and to live for self.

So this is a battle – trying to move our children away from selfishness to God-centeredness. But when we persevere and God, by His grace, comes and works in and through our children then we begin to see the real fruits of homeschooling. They say something like this to us, “Papa (or Mama), is this the right thing for me to do? Will this be pleasing to God? I’m not really sure if this glorifies God.”

When we hear our children say things like this, we could really thank the Lord for His gracious work in our children’s lives. That’s joy in every parent’s heart – when he hears his children say something like, “Papa, I want to live my life for the glory of God!”

Ultimately you and I do not matter that much to it, that we get what we want or we get our way. We all live for the glory of God. We leave fruits behind for God’s glory. And when we remain faithful to that calling we could hear Him say in that great day, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.” That’s everything! That’s fulfilling!


(Thanks to all my fellow homeschoolers here and there, as well as to many speakers and authors on family life, marriage, childrearing and homeschooling who have taught me a lot and helped me put this article together.)

In Living Communion With God - Part 1

Genesis 2:15-17: "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

(I would like to acknowledge my indebtedness to my Old Testament professor, Rev. Mark Vander Hart, for his Genesis Bible Study Guide, from which much of the thought of this meditation were taken.)

The study of the book of Genesis is fascinating not only because it is the first book of the Bible, but also it addresses many of the issues that confront us today. From the origin of the universe to the history of Israel, from the creation of man to the choice of Abraham’s descendants, Genesis is filled with dramatic accounts that shed light to many of our questions today. Genesis records many of the first things in history, both redemptive and natural.

Interestingly, the book of Genesis accounts the beginning of God’s dealing with His created world, specifically with man, and most especially with God’s covenant people, the Israelites, with whom God established the most gracious relationship. It was and is a living relationship, living in the sense that this relationship exists between the living God, who created the world, and His living creature with whom He breathed the breath of life. This living communion between God and man, often called the covenantal union and communion, would be the focus of our study today.

Our text this morning tells us that the LORD of creation establishes a living relationship with man in the Garden of Eden. This relationship involves at least two things: first, it entails a divine call; second, it includes a sovereign command. I will only deal with the first point here. In our next installment, we will talk about the second point.

A. A Divine Call (v. 15)

Verse 15 tells us that God initiates this relationship with a divine purpose or calling. Going back to Gen. 1:26-27, we read the account of God’s thought and His subsequent act in creating man. It took place after God had set the whole universe into place. By the time God created man, the world had been 'fully furnished', so to speak, for man to dwell and live. Gen 1:28 adds that God blessed man and gave him a mandate to rule and subdue the earth. Gen. 2:8 picks this theme up when it says, “And the LORD….”

Here in Gen. 2:15, we read a recapitulation of these two accounts. Thus, God’s blessing and mandate to man in Gen. 1:28 to rule and to fill the earth is further explained by the phrase ‘to work and to take care of it.’ Man's divine calling in this relationship is to be God’s servant-king working where God puts him.

Though the whole earth is in mind, the Garden of Eden, where God put the man, is the specific place for man to start fulfilling his calling. Prior to this mandate of working and taking care of the land, the preceding passages tell us that God Himself has been working in the land of Eden.

The context portrays God not only as the Creator of the universe but also as a Gardener who plants and prepares a beautiful garden for man, where man can fulfill his divine calling and enjoy his relationship with his Creator and LORD. The blessedness of the Garden in Eden is pictured not only by the absence of sin or corruption, but also by the abundance of vegetation (trees and other plants), water supply (the four rivers), and precious stones (pearls, golds and onyx).

So aside from giving man the proper authority to rule and the perfect ability to get his job done, God has also provided man the best possible ambience to exercise his God-given vocation. God did all these to bless man so that in return man will ‘glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’

Now it is clear for us that God’s divine calling for man is to work and to take care of the Garden of God. Man, being God’s image-bearer and governor, was given a special authority and ability by God to fulfill this holy task of working the land. Again, I would like you to take note that all these had taken place before man fell into sin.

This is an important point to remember because some think that work was a result of the fall of man to sin. But that's not true! Work is not a curse on account of sin but a divine calling from God before sin entered the world. To work faithfully and obediently before the presence of God as a grateful response to all His blessings is the greatest thing to aspire now as it was before. Work is a blessing! Sin makes it difficult and a burden but God’s plan for work is for our good.

Another important point in verse 15 that I would like to show you is that God’s call for man is not all work and no pleasure or rest at all. In v. 8, we are told that God put man in the garden. After digressing a little bit, the author returns to this idea of God putting man in the garden in verse 15. The verb ‘put’ in verse 15 is a different verb in Hebrew than the one in verse 8. Though they carry the same meaning of 'putting,' the verb ‘put’ in verse 15 has also the idea of rest, comfort and safety. The root word is the same word where the name Noah comes from.

In Genesis 5:29, we are told that the name Noah means ‘comfort and relief’ from all labors and toils. So in putting man in the garden God’s intention all along is for him not only to work but to work in safety and to have rest and relief from work. In this sense the idea of Sabbath is in mind. Another thing, the word ‘Eden’ means delight or enjoyment.

Thus, verse 15 conveys the idea that when God put man in the garden to work, God's main purpose is for man to serve God with the greatest pleasure and utmost delight in God and in what he does for God.

Furthermore, the two verbs ('to work' and 'to keep') in verse 15 describing man’s responsibility imply far more than work. The first word translated as ‘to work’ or ‘to cultivate’ means nurturing the ground in such a way that it brings forth the desired food and other natural products. It has the idea of developing ‘the earth’s resources for the greater glory of God.’ The thought carries us to the entire range of cultural enterprises that make up life within the kingdom of God.

The same verb is actually used in describing man’s worship of God or service to God. Psa. 2:11 and Psa. 100:2 use the same verb to describe service to the LORD. “Serve the LORD with gladness!” We are aware that these psalms refer to the worship activities of God’s people. Thus in Scripture to work is actually to worship God for the same word can be used for both work and worship, both for culture and cultic activities. We call our gathering today a 'worship service.' Rightly so because our worship and our service to God are two sides of the same coin. They are inseparable.

We Christians believe with all our hearts that all of life is lived "coram Deo," that is, before the face of God. Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper said that ‘not one square inch in the whole universe of human life falls outside the kingship of Jesus Christ.’

Our Lord Jesus Christ sees the whole universe and claims it as His. Therefore, just as Adam was created to worship God in the midst of all his work, we also are called to worship and to take delight in the LORD on His day, Sunday. We are to perform our priestly duty on the LORD’s day and from there we must be lead to work as faithful stewards and vice-gerents for the LORD through out the week.

To recap, work and worship in God’s garden-sanctuary constitute man's calling. Servant-king and priest describe our relationship with the Creator-Lord of the universe. Faithfulness to God and to His divine calling summarizes man’s response to this living relationship with God who created and blessed man with goodness and grace.

Brothers and sisters, all these are true to us now through Jesus Christ, just as they are true in Adam, the first man. In Christ, we work and worship in God's world. In Christ, we are God's servant-kings and priest, ministering to one another in the body of Christ as well as to our neighbors. In Christ, God calls us to be faithful to Him and to our calling as His priests in His holy temple, the church.

I can’t overemphasize the need for us to keep on gathering together on the LORD’s Day in order to express our grateful worship to Him. It is the source of our delight and strength for the week to come.

Parents, it is our privilege to bring our families to the church to worship God. Together with other believers, we experience a spiritual union and communion with God through Jesus Christ by the Spirit when we gather as His covenant people here on earth.

Children, sometimes going to church may not be that exciting to you. But if your delight is in Christ you will never get tired of coming back to serve the Lord again and again, for this is our spiritual act of worship.

Cleaving Unto God

(This is a summary of Abraham Kuyper's devotional thought "Cleaving Unto Him" from his book Near Unto God)

"Therefore choose life...loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days,..." - Deuteronomy 30:19b-20a (ESV)

Religion, that is, the worship of the triune God, is the best means that enriches our heart. Yet it is in religion at the same time that sin best thrives. What started as true devotion to God degenerates into cold formalism, lacking in zeal and heartfelt service, because of sin.

Even though the West may appear better than the East in terms of religion, yet many have corrupted it to a great degree of disappointment. In God's point of view, out of millions who profess devotion to God only a few are really devoted to Him.

Yet God continues to issue His command, saying, "Choose life...holding fast to [the Lord]" (Deut. 30:20). Everyone of us, even the most saintly and godly among us, must hear this command: Cleave [or hold fast] unto the Lord your God. Cleaving or holding fast describes the kind of relationship that believer must have with God. It is a picture of an infant intensely clinging to his mother's breast for milk. In her breast the child finds satisfaction that separation from her makes him cry.

Cleaving to God then means loving God and depending upon Him alone with all our life. But who among us truly manifest this deep, intense, and total devotion to God? Only in Paradise was this complete dedication to God possible, yet it will again be the case when we will be perfected in glory.

Does this mean then we give up pursuing true religion here on earth? No! We continue to seek after God in holy service even though perfect devotion is unachievable in this life.

But how do we cleave to God? It is more than intellectual pursuit or confessional loyalty. It is even more than doing good works and maintaining a pious life. Those who really cleave to God do all these but if these things are done simply out of duty and not of delight, these, too, are meaningless.

Real cleaving or holding fast means continually pursuing God, in good times and bad. Even though we sin and fail, we keep on seeking His forgiveness, daily and momentarily, enjoying His fellowship to the end. Then we can truly sing with the psalmist, "As for me, it is good to be near unto God."

The Blessing of Trusting in God's Goodness

(A meditation on Psalm 84:9-12)

9 Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed!
10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly.
12 O LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!

The psalmists here add a third blessing in this psalm. This blessing is the blessing of trusting in the Lord. Verse 9 opens with a prayer that God would see. “Behold our shield, O God; look on the face of your anointed!” The Anointed is none other than the Son of David, the king, the Messiah.

The sons of Korah declare that the Lord's anointed is their shield. Of course we sing this psalm and we say that the Anointed, the Son of David, is our Lord Jesus the Christ. He is the Good King who is our Shield and Protector until the end.

So we pray, “O God, when you look upon your people, do not look at our sins. Do not look at us! Rather, look on our shield look on the face of your Anointed!”

As we walk on this pilgrimage, as we pass through the Valley of Tears, we ask that our God would look upon the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because it is that face that we adore! It is that face that we behold with unveiled faces as we look into the word of God, and see Jesus exalted at God's right hand.

“For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.” One day with God is better than three years anywhere else. Do you believe that?

What we do in public corporate worship is designed to be a reminder of this. We hear God's voice speaking in his word. We see Jesus as He reveals Himself in the breaking of the bread. We share in the joy of the Holy Spirit as we sing the praises of the living God. We come to the heavenly Mount Zion, the New Jerusalem, and we gather with all the saints from all ages, and we hear the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed.

“A day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere! I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.” I'd rather be a servant, a doorkeeper, someone who has to stay by the door and be ready for unexpected guests, than being a master in the tents of wickedness.

You see, there is no menial task in the house of the LORD. Everything we do before God is glorious. To serve Christ is no small thing. If your hearts are tuned to worship God, it doesn't matter whether you're a doorkeeper or a teacher in the house of God. Each one is important!

In verse 11, we can see clearly that the one who comes to worship the living God comes with the expectation that God will bestow favor and honor. We come to worship with eager anticipation that our loving Father will speak to us, that our beloved Lord Jesus will feed us, and that we will be filled with His Holy Spirit.

We need to believe that the Triune God fulfills what He promises and bestows favor and honor upon His people. And He does this by His Word and Spirit.

He gives all good things to those who walk uprightly. Jesus reflects on this when He says that the Father will give the Spirit to those who ask. As you go or drive to church on Sunday morning, do you ask God to give good things to His people?

Finally, the psalmists say, “O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!” This verse fits beautifully with what our Lord Jesus said about the Psalms that speak of Him, because Jesus is the blessed man who trusted in the Lord of hosts. He is the one who sang this Psalm throughout his life, throughout His pilgrimage on earth. He longed for the courts of the living God! He knew that a day in the heavenly courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.

And because Jesus is the blessed man, therefore God looks upon the face of His Anointed, and grants His favor and honor to those who trust in Jesus.

As you come to worship, come with longing! Come with joy because you know that here you will meet with the living God. Here you will gain strength in His courts so that you might journey from strength to strength, until the day that you appear before him in Zion.

You see, life’s true purpose, its fullest joy, its deepest satisfaction is found in communion and worship with God together with His people. It is in serving the Lord in complete dependence and delight in Him and in trusting His gracious provision and protection.

You need to understand that this God whom you worship is everything to you. He has supplied your deepest needs and desires. So who would not want to be with God and commune and worship with Him? He is God our blessedness. He is our delight!

To those of you who have been in the church since you were a little child, I'm sure it breaks your heart every time you can't be in the house of the Lord and to be with His people to worship Him. I'm sure that by the grace of God, you will never get tired of serving Him in His house.

I tell you there’s no place I’d rather be on the face of this earth than in the assembly of God’s people, worshiping God, gathered to praise His holy Name Lord’s Day after Lord’s Day.

The saints and servants of God delights being in the house of the Lord. So did these temple servants and doorkeepers, the sons of Korah. They loved to be in the house of the Lord for there their trust in God is nurtured and strengthened. And no good thing will he withhold from those who walk in wholehearted devotion to Him. How blessed is the man who trust in the goodness of God!

The Blessings of Worshiping God

(A meditation on Psalm 84:1-4)

1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!
2 My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.
3 Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts,
my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah


The one longing of our heart all our life is the worship of God. We were created to give honor and praise to our God and Creator. About sixteen centuries ago Saint Augustine said that God has made us in such a way that we remain restless until we find rest in Him. Until our souls find comfort and joy in the true worship of God, our deepest longing in life will remain unsatisfied.

My hope and my prayer is that every Lord's Day, when we gather together as God's covenant people in worship, our deepest desire is fulfilled and we find rest in our soul.

There is tremendous blessing that awaits you and me when we seek the adoration of our God. Blessed are those who yearn to have fellowship and communion with the living God! Blessed are those whose desire is to dwell in the presence of God forever, serving and loving Him with all their heart, mind, and soul!

Psalm 84 is designed to draw the people of God into the vision of the living God in His holy temple. It speaks of the intensity of the psalmists' desire to worship God in His temple. Thus in Psalm 84 we see that God pronounces a threefold blessing upon those who worship Him. (The psalmist mentions the word "blessed" in vv. 4, 5, and 12).

The idea of serving God and worshiping Him in His temple is prominent in this psalm. And this theme of service or worship is paralleled by the idea of blessedness. As you may know, the idea of being blessed is the notion of the one who has found the fullest joy, the deepest satisfaction, and the truest purpose of life.

The person who is blessed knows and lives life’s true purpose. He knows that man is made to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Therefore the person who is truly blessed experiences the fullness of joy. Not that he’s happy in a superficial sense all the time or that nothing bad ever comes in his life experiences.

Rather whether he experiences triumph or trial in this life the blessed man is grounded in a deep joy because he knows God and he knows His purpose. He knows why he’s here and he finds deep satisfaction in God that cannot be taken away from him by any of his ever changing circumstances.

Whether your experiences in life are momentary joys and triumphs or continuing trials that tempt you to question the love and goodness of God, don't forget that you were made to glorify God. The person who knows life’s true purpose will experience its fullness of joy and will find its true blessedness regardless of the situation in and around him.

We will explore this threefold blessing that the psalmists talk about upon those who seek to serve and worship God. First of all, let's focus on the truth that those who worship God will experience the blessing of dwelling in God's house (vv.1-4).

Psalm 84 is a psalm of the Sons of Korah. Korah was one of the ancestors of the Levitical singers of the temple whom King David had appointed. So the Sons of Korah were singers in the temple. They serve in the temple. There are eleven psalms attributed to them. Most of these psalms give a prominent place to Zion, to Jerusalem, or to the temple. That is not surprising because the sons of Korah dwelt in the temple in Jerusalem!

But while the Sons of Korah write about things familiar to them, they do not write for themselves alone. As I've said, Psalm 84 is designed to draw the people of God into the vision of the living God in the temple.

In verses 1-4, notice how the psalmist focus our attention on the blessedness of dwelling in God’s house, especially when God’s people are gathered in worship. You see, the psalmist tells us that the person who is blessed is found in communion and worship with God and with His people.

The psalmist is saying that the people who get to be in the house of God and worship and praise Him are blessed. The people who long for God, who long to worship God, to know God, to praise God, they are the ones who are truly blessed.

That’s very important in our day and age. More and more churches are realizing that fewer and fewer people are interested in worshiping God when they come to church. So they are coming up with other things for them to do when they come to church because those people do not delight in worshiping God. And I want you to notice that God’s pronouncement of blessedness is not upon them. His pronouncement of blessedness is upon those who long to be with God, communing with the people of God in the worship of God.

That’s the first lesson for us out of Psalm 84:1-4. Of course, we don’t have a temple to go to anymore. We don't have to bring animal sacrifices for our sins. The building, the sanctuary where we gather for worship, is what we call God’s house because God dwells wherever His people are gathered.

God’s house is not a beautiful building built by Solomon in Jerusalem. We are told in the New Testament that God does not dwell in any place made by the hand of man. God’s house is God's people, redeemed by the blood of His Son. You and I are the house of God. He dwells among us by His Spirit.

So wherever God’s people gather, whether we gather here or in a gymnasium, when God’s people gather to worship the living God, there we find the dwelling place of God. We are God’s house. In Christ the living God has come to dwell among us. In Him the psalmist's longing for the house of God is fulfilled. Thus, our secure location and greatest joy is to be at home with God in Christ. Christ is the reality that we as believers enjoy. To be in Christ is to be blessed.

The psalmist will later say that there is no place on earth that he would rather be than in the temple of the Lord with the people of God, praising Him. And for the New Covenant believer, what we say is that there is no place that we would rather be than in Christ.

And how do we expressed our being in Christ? By being united with the body of Christ, the people of God, in fellowship and worship. We delight in our union with Christ through our worship of God and the communion of saints. There we find our fullest satisfaction. There we find our joy.

We long to be with God, singing and praising Him. But this is not possible apart from our Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God. That's why we sing and pray to God in the name of our Savior and Lord. Through Christ worship is the highest expression of our longing for God. And the psalmist said that’s true blessedness: the one who longs for God and to be with God’s people gathered in worshiping Him. That’s the person who understands life’s true purpose, who has experienced the fullness of joy, has found deep satisfaction, and has found communion and worship with God’s people.

Where do you want to be? Is your soul longing to be sitting in front of a ball game or show? Do you faint to see your favorite team's home court or the courts of the Lord?

You see, we were created for God. He made us for Himself, and so we have a God-shaped hole in the center of our lives, and we try our best to fill that hole with something. At the center of your being, what do you long for?

When you have seen and entered the dwelling place of the Lord of hosts you have no desire to be any place else. As the sons of Korah reflected on this, walking through the courtyard of the temple, beholding the glory of the courts of the Lord, they saw something that caught their attention. There, high up on the temple, perhaps in the latticework around the courtyard, were birds' nests.

Then they realize that all creation draws near to God in the temple. Here in the courts of the Lord, even the birds find a home. Not a sparrow falls from its nest, but the Lord of Hosts sees. If the Lord of hosts welcomes birds to nest in His courts, how much more will He welcome you who long for Him!

Because, as Hebrews 12 says, we have come to the heavenly Jerusalem; and because we have come to the courts of the living God, we may now dwell in the house of the Lord forever! And this is now a reality for us because our Lord Jesus Christ has brought us through the veil of the earthly temple and brought us into the holy of Holies, where we behold Him. We see Jesus, crowned with glory and honor, sitting at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. That is what we do in our worship.

We come into the very presence of God on the basis of the sacrifice of our great high priest, Jesus Christ. We then hear His Word, read and proclaimed, and made visible by the sacraments and we respond to His Word with praises and prayers. Then we are fed at His table and go forth with His blessing.

This is not merely an earthly assembly. When we gather for worship we gather with all the heavenly hosts, with all the saints from all times and places as the Spirit lifts us in the heavenly courts in order to sing the praises of our Triune God. That is our blessedness!

Praising the Lord Our God

Psalm 33:4

In corporate worship, God invites us to come before His presence and be awed by His glory and majesty. As we listen to Him speaking through His life-giving Word, we respond in humility, confessing our unworthiness. We also respond in joyful thanksgiving to Him through our songs and prayers for all the good gifts He gives us through our Lord Jesus Christ.

In worshiping God, our highest aim is to magnify Him, to exalt His glory and all His wonderful attributes. It is not to entertain ourselves or make ourselves feel good. Yet in worshiping God, we find Him satisfying our deepest, most basic longing, that is, to glorify the One who is worthy of praise, the One who gives us life and its meaning.

When God’s people find themselves worshiping in His presence, God Himself finds them doing what is right for "praise is becoming to the upright" (Ps. 33.1). Praise is fitting to the saints of the Lord for that’s the reason why you and I were created.

Psalm 33 tells us that God’s people are called to praise God’s excellent qualities. It is one of Israel’s greatest hymns of praise. It opens with the psalmist’s five-fold summons to the gathered assembly of the righteous to praise the Lord. You and I ought to bow down before the Lord our God in humble worship. And the psalmist enumerates for us many reasons in praising God.

We will focus our meditation on verse 4, highlighting the truthfulness and faithfulness of God as reasons for praising Him.

In this psalm, the writer begins by summoning the gathered assembly of worshipers to praise God. Right at the very beginning, he tells the worshipers to sing joyfully to the Lord. Take note how the lyrics vividly express an exuberant note exalting the glories of the Lord.

This psalm boasts of God’s glorious perfections in His own being, in His mighty work in creation, and in His sovereign plan over all the earth, particularly over His own chosen people. It is clear that the word ‘for’ at the beginning of verse 4 connects the invitation to praise (vv.1-3) with the reasons for praising God. Just as the word of God is right and true and His work is always faithful, so is He, in His being.

God is not separated from what He does and what He says. He is, at the very core of His being, faithful and true. So His Word and works match with His character. Thus God cannot lie and does not tell a lie. When He makes promises, He fulfills them. When He speaks, He speaks the truth. When He does something, He does what is right.

Our God is trustworthy. He is dependable and consistent. Do you know who He stands in stark contrast with? The evil one! Yes, the devil fills the world with his lies and deceptions. He is a liar from the beginning. He is the father of lies. He makes lies appear as truth. He makes promises but does not keep them. His works are doomed for destruction.

Our God, however, is always faithful. When He says in vv. 10-11 that ‘He foils the plans of the nations and let His plan alone stand firm’ He really does. History is filled with God’s providential acts of triumph over the wicked plans and schemes of men and nations. You know how God frustrated the arrogant plans of the people in the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11). Their rebellious plan resulted to confusion and the formation of many nations.

Later these nations try to hinder God's sovereign plan to set apart a people for Himself, a holy nation that will worship Him and live under His sovereign rule. At first, Israel has greatly suffered under Egypt's tyranny and oppression. But God frustrates Pharaoh's plan to keep Israel in bondage, delivering her from the house of bondage.

Even the plans of the Canaanite nations to prevent Israel's entrance to the Promise Land did not succeed. God crushed the plans of Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan. He blasted Balak's plan to destroy Israel.

So Biblical history proves that no one can outwit God. All the nations' plans did not materialize. God's plan, however, came through. For when He says He will do something He will really do it.

God is trustworthy. He towers high above the greatest and brightest of our rulers and politicians who fail to perform all their promises and assurances to the people. When God promises He swears to no one else except to Himself to confirm His word (Gen 22:16; Heb 6:13). He is faithful and true. II Corinthians 1:18-20 tells us that God’s promises to His people are fulfilled in the life and work of Jesus Christ for “all His promises are ‘Yes’ and ‘Amen’ in Christ.” God never fails to fulfill His promises. Do you believe that?

This calls for a wholehearted trust to God on our part. God is praised when you and I believe in His promise of salvation and sanctification. Do you believe that by faith God saves you from eternal death and hell through Jesus Christ? Do you trust in God’s providential care even when you are financially broke or physically ill?

Those who are battling against illness and disease, do you really trust in God alone for the ultimate good of your body and soul? God is glorified when you say to Him, “Yes, Lord. I believe that You alone can save both my body and soul.”

Likewise, God is glorified when we remain faithful in our covenant relationship with Him. When God says, “Stop worrying for many things!” or “Seek first My kingdom and My righteousness and everything you need will be provided” do you argue with Him saying, “I try Lord but it’s hard not to worry. Besides, I want to be successful. I want to prove to my friends and family that I am not a disappointment.” When you say, “Lord, I’m not going to worry about anything anymore,” do you really keep your word?

Husbands, you praise God when you keep your marital commitment to love your wife in good times and in bad. The same thing for the wives. When you stick to your promise to remain faithful to your husbands, you honor the God who is faithful and true. Parents, you glorify God when you do what you have promised to do with your children. Likewise, children, you honor God when you do what you promised Mom and Dad to do.

Pastors and elders honor God when they keep their promise to nurture and protect the Lord's flock according to the Word of God.

When you disregard God’s commands and ignore His promises, you are really saying that He is not dependable. Yet you and I know that when we trust and obey the Lord in the home, in school, at work, in church and everywhere we glorify Him for we reflect His worth: His truthfulness and faithfulness.

THE CHURCH AS THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD

A meditation on 1 Timothy 3:14-15a

In establishing a new congregation that is Biblical, you need a manual on how to start and nurture a church. I tell you there are books on church planting out there but none of those is as comprehensive and Scriptural compared with the letters of Paul to Timothy and Titus. So if you want to start right on target, these letters serve as faithful guide or manual on church planting.

These letters of Paul tell us not so much on what kind of strategies work. But they help in selecting the right leaders who would serve as officers of the church and in teaching the people the things they ought to know and the things they ought to do in the church.

When we started the Reformed congregation in Davao City back in 2000, we also didn’t know what to do. Thank God that we have His Word to guide us, especially the three letters of Paul to his young fellow ministers who served as pastors in two new different congregations. These letters, known as Pastoral Epistles, served as manual for new inexperienced leaders in fulfilling their task of setting the new congregation in order.

1 Timothy is especially relevant because Paul wrote this letter to a young and less experienced co-worker whom he left in Ephesus with a mandate to promote order to the Ephesian church. Though the circumstances surrounding the letter were different from the situation we are in, the instructions of Paul here are very insightful and relevant to us. We can learn from these epistles what the church is and how church people should conduct themselves.

The verses we're focusing on is considered by some scholars to be the very heart of this letter. So as we look at these verses, we're right at the center of this epistle. What Paul writes in this letter are basic teachings on the doctrine and life of the church. We need to be reminded with these essential things ourselves.

In this section, Paul particularly reminds Timothy why believers ought to behave in a certain way in the church. He tells us that our conduct ought to match with our identity as the church.

If we have a low view or even a wrong view, of the church, we won't care how people conduct themselves in the church. We won't care about its office-bearers, its worship, or its doctrines. But if you and I have a Scriptural view of the church, as Paul presents here, then we will be very concerned about the conduct of the people and the organization of the church.

So what is the church according to Paul in 1 Timothy 3:14-16? Paul presents three pictures of the church here, and I'd like to unfold these pictures as we try to develop an understanding of why Paul even cares about the church. We are given here three related descriptions. First, the church is the household of God; second, the church is of the living God; and third, the church is the pillar and foundation of the truth.

My focus in this article is to show that the church is THE HOUSEHOLD OF GOD (vv.14-15a).

The church in Ephesus, where Paul left Timothy, was far from being perfect. Not only that, Timothy, the young pastor of the church and Paul's representative, didn't always have the boldness necessary to confront those who needed confronting. There were false teachers within the church. It was far from the place it should have been, and yet it still was the church.

Paul says in vv.14-15a, “I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing you these things so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God.” Here we see not only the reason for the letter, but it also gives the theological basis for it. Its basic message is that order is necessary for the church, precisely because of what the church is.

Now I want you to note that Paul is especially thinking of the local assembly of Christians in Ephesus when he uses the word church here. What he says, of course, applies to every Christian church, and in some measure applies to the universal church. But he's especially thinking of the gathered people of God. So God's church is first of all the household of God.

Before we try to understand the meaning of the phrase “household of God” note also what Paul is saying. He says, “I am writing you these things.” What are “these things”? Well, it seems that “these things” could be referring to the things he's just written about in chapter 3, about office bearers of the church, i.e., elders and deacons, and their qualifications (vv.1-13).

However, Paul could also be referring to the entire epistle. And it seems likely that here Paul is speaking of the entire purpose of his letter. And what is that purpose? That you and I will know how to act or behave in the local church. At the heart of Paul's concern in writing about all these things is that the local church would live in light of a wondrous truth.

And what is that truth? He tells you right here in v.15. It is the truth that the local church is the household of God. Now “household” is translated by some Bible versions as being a house, or as referring to a building. That is possible, especially in light of what Paul is about to say about the church being a pillar and foundation (v.15).

In that case, the church is portrayed as the place where the living God dwells. So let us be reminded that every time we gather together for worship, God is among us. That tells us a lot how we should conduct ourselves in the presence of God. I ask you, how would you behave if our president is among us? For sure children would sit straight and listen to him when he speaks. How much more when the King of all kings, is among us! And indeed He is with us, or should we say, we are in His presence in worship. We are in His presence and He speaks to us in His Word. So we better pay attention.

But it seems that the idea of the church as the household of God, that is, as a family of God, is also in mind here, especially that Paul is talking about behavior, which entails relation-ship. So we may say that the church is both the house of God and the household of God.

Do you realize how important it is to bear in mind that we are God's household, that we are His family? Each of us is a member with God's family – children and adult, we are part of God’s family. You and I are God's children by faith in Jesus Christ. And because of that, you and I belong to each other. We need one another as believers. We can't live as “Lone Ranger” Christians. We need one another's encouragement. We need to correct each other and we need to learn to resolve our conflicts together in Christian love. We need to be committed to each other even if sometimes we disagree on certain issue. Commitment to remain faithful to the Lord and each other is necessary as members of God’s household.

So how involved are you in the lives of the other family members? Do you even know their names? How much time do you spend in knowing each other, in praying for one another, in studying the Word together, in serving one another and in praising God together?

God wants you to appreciate the glory of the local fellowship of believers. And so dear brothers and sisters, it's so important that we pause and think. Because in the fellowship of believers, just like in any family, we get irritated with one another and we get irritated about things with our church. And that irritation or frustration with other family members, if not properly dealt with, sidetracks our attention from the essential things that the local church does.

And it causes us to undervalue the glory of what we have together as the assembled saints of God – things like meeting with God, experiencing His presence, giving Him praise, hearing His word, growing in grace under the means of grace together.

Paul is saying we need to appreciate the fellowship and communion of the saints. He is saying that all of “these things,” may they be qualifications of the church leaders or the practical instructions in this letter, won’t make sense, won’t grip our heart until we realize we are the place where God meets. We are the dwelling place, the house and the household of God.

We are God's family. Everywhere Bible-believing and Christ-exalting Christians gather Lord’s Day after Lord’s Day, committed to one another in membership in a local congregation, there God dwells. And Paul wants us to realize that this local church is glorious in ways that we seldom appreciate. But once we do, we learn to live and act as the house and household of God.