THE CHURCH IN THE HOME
(mr 05/03/18)
OLUBI JOHNSON
PREACHED SUNDAY 11/03/2018
The family or home is the unit of the Church.
The relationship between a man and his wife is like the relationship between Christ and the Church:
Ephesians 5:22-25 KJV: Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. (23) For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the Saviour of the body. (24) Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. (25) Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Ephesians 5:31-32 AMP: For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. [Gen. 2:24.] (32) This mystery is very great, but I speak concerning [the relation of] Christ and the church.
Furthermore, we see in
Philippians 1:1 KJV: Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:
The family or home is a small church:
Husband – Senior Pastor (or Bishop)
Wife – Assistant Pastor (or Bishop)
Older children – Deacons
Younger Children – Saints
Now, just like we should highly esteem in love our spiritual oversight for their works sake, a wife and the children should highly esteem their husband and father according to
1Thessalonians 5:12-13 KJV: And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, (13) and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.
Ephesians 5:33 AMP: However, let each man of you [without exception] love his wife as [being in a sense] his very own self; and let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband [ N1 that she notices him, regards him, honors him, prefers him, venerates, and esteems him; and N2 that she defers to him, praises him, and loves and admires him exceedingly]. [1Pe 3:2]
The purpose of God for the home is for the husband and wife to help each other to ‘eat’ of the ‘tree of life’, just like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Proverbs 3:13-18 NKJV: Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding; (14) For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold. (15) She is more precious than rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her. (16) Length of days is in her right hand, in her left hand riches and honor. (17) Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. (18) She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who retain her.
God deliberately planted in the middle of the Garden the two trees of life and of the knowledge of good and evil, implicitly (not explicitly) commanding Adam to eat of the tree of life and to use the wisdom, love and power he would get from the tree of life to tend and guard the Garden. It was after (NOT BEFORE!) God had given these assignments to Adam that He now created Eve: a helper to assist Adam in doing these assignments.
Genesis 2:7-9 AMP: Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being. [I Cor. 15:45-49.] (8) And the Lord God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden [delight]; and there He put the man whom He had formed (framed, constituted). (9) And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight or to be desired–good (suitable, pleasant) for food; the tree of life also in the center of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of [the difference between] good and evil and blessing and calamity. [Rev. 2:7; 22:14, 19.]
Genesis 2:15-18 AMP: And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and guard and keep it. (16) And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; (17) But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. (18) Now the Lord God said, It is not good (sufficient, satisfactory) that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper meet (suitable, adapted, and complementary) for him.
Genesis 2:21-24 AMP: And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam; and while he slept, He took one of his ribs or a part of his side and closed up the [place with] flesh. (22) And the rib or part of his side, which the Lord God had taken from the man, He built up and made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. (23) Then Adam said, this [creature] is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of a man. (24) Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. [Matt. 19:5; I Cor. 6:16; Eph. 5:31-33.]
As the husband and wife ‘eat’ of the ‘tree of life’, they will receive wisdom, love and power to do the will of God and produce godly children or seed who in turn will again produce seed after their kind (Gen. 1.11-12) and so ultimately God will fill the earth with men and women who will cause His Kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven (Lk. 11.2).
Malachi 2:14-16 NKJV: Yet you say, “For what reason?” Because the LORD has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously; Yet she is your companion And your wife by covenant. (15) But did He not make them one, having a remnant of the Spirit? And why one? He seeks godly offspring. “Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. (16) “For the LORD God of Israel says That He hates divorce, for it covers one’s garment with violence,” Says the LORD of hosts. Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”
