(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!
Showing posts with label communion of saints. Show all posts
Showing posts with label communion of saints. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
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.
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.
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