A True Church, A True House

Psalm 128:1-6 (text);Ephesians 6:1-4
July 20, 2014 • Download this sermon (PDF)

Introduction

Congregation of Christ: Today, we start a short series entitled, “A Little Church in the House: Raising and Strengthening a Godly Household.” (see schedule here). Why is this series important? In our society, and in most parts of the world where there are many evangelicals, a big problem is raising godly covenant children in the home.

But even in the churches, this is a big problem. Recent statistics show that between 60-80 percent of young adults raised in Christian homes and churches leave the church and even forsake their Christian faith beginning in their college years. Why is this happening? One of the main reasons is that parents have forsaken their God-given responsibility to teach their children in the home, leaving this great task mostly on the church. But the church, in turn, has also forsaken its God-given duty to preach and teach the true Gospel to both adults and children. It has forsaken sound doctrine for entertainment, resulting in what a writer says, “The church has become a giant youth ministry.”

As early as 1704, the Presbyterian minister Matthew Henry preached a long sermon in London, entitled “A Church in the House: A Sermon Concerning Family Religion.” His thesis was, “That the families of Christians should be little churches; or thus, That wherever we have a house, God should have a church in it.”

The Christian home must be a little church where there is teaching of sound doctrine, true worship of the true God, and Christian discipleship. Our text today, Psalm 128, “a Song of Ascents” sung by Jewish pilgrims on their way to worship in the temple in Jerusalem, is also a wisdom psalm that continues some of the themes in Psalm 127. While Psalm 127, which ended in “Blessed is the man…” who has many children (verse 5), Psalm 128 starts with “Blessed is everyone…” and then expands on how a man is blessed. As in Psalm 127, and to ancient Israel, a man’s blessedness consisted of a productive farm and a happy home with a wife and many children (Prv 10:4). At the end of the psalm, the blessedness is not merely in a man and his home, but extends to the whole people of God.

From this psalm, we can learn three things about our homes as little churches. Article 29 of the Belgic Confession lists the three marks of a true church: “the pure preaching of the gospel,” “the pure administration of the sacraments,” and “church discipline.” In raising a godly household, our homes can imitate a true church, so that our homes can become “true houses.” To become “true homes,” we can teach the true gospel, worship in Spirit and in truth, and bring our households up in the fear of the LORD. In the next several weeks, we will study these three things.

So our text this afternoon is “A True Church, A True House,” under three headings: first, Teaching the Ways of the LORD; second, Worshiping in the Heavenly Mount Zion; and third, Bringing Up in the Fear of the LORD.

Teaching the Ways of the LORD

The first mark of a true church is the “pure preaching of the gospel.” Without the teaching and preaching the pure gospel, a church cannot be sound and endure to the end. It will be an easy target for false teachers.

Verse 1 of Psalm 128 says, “Blessed [esher] is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways!” Note that the English word “blessed” in this verse is from a Hebrew word that actually means “happy.” In verse 4, the Hebrew word used for “blessed” actually means “blessed.” The difference is that in verse 1, a man’s “happiness,” implies an internal feeling, while in verse 4, his “blessedness” comes from outside, from the LORD himself.

Verse 1 is almost identical to Psalm 112:1, “Praise the LORD! Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments!” Fearing the LORD and greatly delighting in his commandments are always inseparable (see Deu 8:6). For the faithful believer, God’s law is not a burden, but a delight to know and to obey. This is echoed in Psalm 111:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,” which in turn comes from Proverbs 1:7 and 9:10.

Without the fear of the LORD, there is no walking in his ways. And how will our families learn to “fear the LORD”? By teaching them the true gospel of Christ, that he died on the cross to save us from our sinful ways, and that he was raised from the grave for our justification. We are to teach them we can only walk in his ways by being reverent and humble before our Creator and Savior. Therefore, a little church in the home begins with teaching sound doctrine to the whole household. Then a house where the LORD’s ways are taught and obeyed are blessed, “Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! (Psa 119:1; see also Prv 8:32)

But how are we going to teach the pure gospel and sound doctrine to our families?

Worshiping in the Heavenly Mount Zion

Verses 1-4 deal with the blessedness of the faithful individual and his family—wife, children and the whole household. In the last two verses, 5 and 6, the psalmist shifts the blessedness to the whole congregation assembled in the temple in Mount Zion, “The LORD bless [barach] you from Zion! May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life! May you see your children’s children! Peace be upon Israel!”

The psalmist prays that the LORD who dwells in Mount Zion’s temple (Psa 135:21) bestow his blessing and prosperity upon Israel. This is the same prayer in Psalm 134:3, “May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!” He prays for help and support from the sanctuary (Psa 20:2). He prays for the good of the house of the LORD (Psa 122:9). His prayer is not only for his covenant household, but for other households in the assembly of God’s people. In fact, he prays for all of Jerusalem, for the whole people of God.

In the inner sanctuaries of his home, by himself, the head of the household prays for himself, his household and all of God’s people. But when they gather “around the table” during meals, they study God’s Word with delight in their hearts. His wife is like a “fruitful vine,” not only in having many children, but in her good works in the house and in the community, just as the excellent wife, mother and businesswoman of Proverbs 31. The children are like “olive shoots” around the table, growing from infancy into maturity and zeal in the fear and understanding of the LORD.

When Israel was faithful, they were like fruitful vines and olive trees: “Your mother was like a vine in a vineyard planted by the water, fruitful and full of branches by reason of abundant water” (Ezk 19:10). “Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall” (Gen 49:22). “But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever” (Psa 52:8).

Christians as well are fruitful branches sprouting out of Jesus the True Vine. If we are not connected to the True Vine and fear him, we cannot walk in his ways (John 15:5). We are also wild olive branches grafted into Christ, the True Olive Tree, so that we may produce fruits (Rom 11:17).

So together with our wives or husbands and children, all of us who are vines and olive branches connected to Christ, worship together around the table at meals in the peaceful, blessed confines of our houses. Like a true church, we read, listen to, and study God’s Word, pray and sing together as we eat meals together as a little church.

And together, these little churches will extend to our “Jerusalem,” the heavenly Mount Zion, the assembly of God’s people every LORD’s Day. On this day, we hear the pure gospel with reverence and submission, and joyfully feast together around the LORD’s Table. And together, we pray for the peace and prosperity of our “Jerusalem” in Pasig, Imus, and in the whole world.

Bringing Up in the Fear of the LORD

Lastly, a “true house” is like a “true church” when there is training and discipline “that you may fear the LORD your God” (Deu 6:2). Reverence, submission and obedience to God’s commandments are consistently taught and practiced, “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” (Deu 6:7). Paul echoes this discipline in the home through teaching and submission to God’s law, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right… Fathers… bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph 6:1-4).

Children are a great blessing on parents and families, but they are also a great responsibility given to parents. As the third mark of a true church is the right exercise of discipline when a member errs in doctrine and practice, the church in the “true house” is also marked by Christian discipline of the members of its household.

The Hebrews preacher underlines this discipline in the home by our earthly fathers as in the church by our heavenly Father, “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?… Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them” (Heb 12:6-9). The Greek word for discipline is paideia (from which the English prefix paedo for “child” comes), which means raising covenant children through teaching, training and correcting.

But as the church disciplines members to persuade them to repent of their sin and be restored, fathers are to discipline their children, not to cast them out of the house, but to welcome them back when they repent of their disobedience. In this way, Christians endure sufferings, temptations and trials.

These then are the blessings of the man and his household who fear the LORD and walk in his ways (verse 4). Many fathers and mothers work so hard for their children’s financial future, but they neglect the spiritual nurture of their household. But those who bring their households in the fear and ways of the LORD “eat the fruit of the labor of [their] hands.” They see their children and grandchildren grow up as mature Christian men and women “around the table” of their homes (verse 6). They are “the crown of the aged” (Prv 17:6). So the promise of the LORD is not only to the next generation, but to many generations of the faithful, “But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep his covenant and remember to do his commandments” (Psa 103:17-18).

Beloved Friends: There are several churches “in the homes” mentioned in the New Testament, such as the house of Prisca and Aquila (1 Cor 16:19; see also Rom 16:5; Col 4:15; Phm 1:2). They might be real churches that meet every Lord’s Day, but they can also be families worshiping our Lord Jesus Christ in their homes.

Fathers, mothers, and all who are heads of households, you too are “priests to God,” shepherds feeding your flocks in your homes. You have the responsibility to teach your households the fear and the ways of the LORD. You are to intercede for them, leading them in the worship of the LORD in prayer, praise and thanksgiving, just as Job continually interceded for his covenant children through burnt offerings for their sins (Job 1:5), just as Abraham (Gen 18:19), Joshua (Josh 24:15), and Cornelius did (Acts 10:1-2). You are to inculcate discipline and obedience in your children.

With such discharge of priestly duties, your houses will be a blessed extension of our church during the whole week, between our gatherings on the Lord’s Days. This blessedness arising from your faithfulness in your houses will surely result in the peace of our own “Jerusalem,” our heavenly Mount Zion, the church whose head is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and whose members are faithful “little churches” headed by priestly fathers and mothers.