Should We Meet in House Churches?
Chapters
0:00:44 The Church in the New Testament
5:8 New Testament Is It Commanded or Forbidden that Local Churches Meet in Homes
5:43 Fifth Observation
00:00:00.000 | Pastor John, in Episode 912 of this podcast, it was titled "Paying Pastors, Church Buildings,
00:00:07.920 | and Weekly Sermons," a trio of issues, you skipped right over the question about house
00:00:13.320 | churches and meeting in buildings, and many savvy listeners wrote in to point that out
00:00:18.380 | to us.
00:00:19.380 | Nothing gets past our listeners.
00:00:21.360 | So do you have any particular views when it comes to whether or not the church should
00:00:25.540 | meet in house churches or in buildings?
00:00:28.560 | Okay, not a problem.
00:00:30.360 | I have views.
00:00:31.840 | I think the Bible has something to say.
00:00:33.800 | I'll summarize my view in six observations.
00:00:38.280 | I don't think they're very controversial.
00:00:39.880 | I think they're easily supportable.
00:00:41.480 | So here we go, and people can judge for themselves.
00:00:45.040 | First, the church in the New Testament, as the New Testament teaches about the church,
00:00:50.360 | is people, not places.
00:00:52.480 | The word "church" in the New Testament is a translation of the word "ekklesia," which
00:00:58.280 | means "called out ones" or "assembly."
00:01:00.900 | It never refers to building or place.
00:01:04.680 | The English word "church," it's an interesting word.
00:01:07.840 | Like, where'd that come from?
00:01:08.840 | Well, it came from the Old English "kirk" or "kirk," like in the Scottish "kirk," and
00:01:15.520 | it comes from the Greek "kuriakos," which means "belong to the Lord."
00:01:19.680 | So the word "church" means "belonging to the Lord" in its etymological origin, and could
00:01:25.640 | refer to a place or could refer to a people.
00:01:28.480 | So that's where the English word "church" comes from and doesn't prove anything about
00:01:33.480 | where a people should meet.
00:01:36.920 | But in this whole discussion, it is utterly crucial to keep in mind that in the New Testament,
00:01:43.640 | nothing is said about the church as place, and much is said about the church as people.
00:01:50.800 | And just to give a few examples, Matthew 16, 18, Jesus says to Peter, "On this rock I will
00:01:57.080 | build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it."
00:01:59.880 | That was not a building he's talking about.
00:02:02.140 | Or in Matthew 18, 17, in church discipline, he says, "When all private entreaties fail,
00:02:08.720 | tell it to the church."
00:02:09.720 | That doesn't mean talk to brick.
00:02:12.300 | And in Acts 9, 31, it says, "So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria
00:02:19.680 | had peace and was being built up."
00:02:22.760 | And in Acts 13, 1, it says, "Now there were in the church in Antioch prophets and teachers,"
00:02:29.720 | meaning among the people that were—those were some of the gifted folks.
00:02:33.760 | So that's my first observation.
00:02:35.560 | The church in the New Testament is always, without exception, people, not places.
00:02:42.660 | Second observation is that the New Testament portrays local churches, that is, local assemblies,
00:02:53.060 | gatherings of the universal church in a local place, the expression of the universal church
00:02:59.680 | gathered in a local place.
00:03:02.880 | It portrays these churches often as gathering in homes.
00:03:08.980 | So 1 Corinthians 16, 19, "The churches of Asia send you greeting, Aquila and Priscilla,
00:03:15.540 | together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings."
00:03:21.620 | Colossians 4, 15, "Give my greetings to the brothers at Laodicea and to Nympha and the
00:03:28.780 | church in her house."
00:03:31.960 | Philemon 2, "I write to Aphia and our sister and Archippus, our fellow soldier, and the
00:03:40.240 | church in your house."
00:03:43.240 | So it's clear that in the earliest days of the church, the church regularly met in homes.
00:03:51.640 | Third observation, don't overstate that or idolize that fact.
00:03:58.560 | I mean, idealize that fact, because we know from 1 Corinthians that houses were not the
00:04:07.480 | only venue for church gatherings.
00:04:10.120 | Paul says in chapter 11, verse 17 and 22, he says, "In the following instructions, I
00:04:16.680 | do not commend you, because when you come together, it is not for better but for worse."
00:04:24.280 | What?
00:04:25.280 | He says, "Do you not have houses to eat and drink in, or do you despise the church
00:04:30.480 | of God and humiliate those who have nothing?"
00:04:33.680 | In other words, he's saying you're getting together someplace other than your houses,
00:04:39.120 | and you're eating in a way that shames those who don't have a lot to eat, and you brought
00:04:44.920 | a big basket and you're eating it.
00:04:48.120 | Eat in your homes, not where we're gathering as church.
00:04:52.980 | So it seems to me pretty clear that people were leaving their homes, going to some commonplace
00:04:59.760 | of assembly for gathering of the church service, whatever it was.
00:05:05.760 | Fourth observation, nowhere in the New Testament is it commanded or forbidden that local churches
00:05:13.980 | meet in homes.
00:05:14.980 | It is perfectly acceptable that they do and acceptable that they don't.
00:05:22.600 | This is not something God thought it wise to regulate, no doubt, I think, in part because
00:05:29.140 | of the incredibly diverse cultural situations the church would find itself in for the next
00:05:35.120 | 2,000 years, under trees, in garages, in stores, in cellars, in caves, in cathedrals, in homes.
00:05:45.160 | Fifth observation, therefore, in all of those differing cultural situations, leaders of
00:05:52.680 | the church should seriously think through and pray through the relative advantages and
00:06:00.660 | disadvantages of place and location, given the nature and goals of the church, whether
00:06:08.660 | they should limit their gatherings to homes or rent a space or purchase a space or build
00:06:16.340 | a space.
00:06:17.820 | And we should be really slow to judge the decisions that are made here, since God, it
00:06:25.340 | seems to me, has been pleased to bring great awakenings and massive church growth during
00:06:33.540 | times with and without church buildings.
00:06:37.980 | He's not limited in that way, and woe to the denomination or movement that presumes to
00:06:46.220 | say architecture, buildings, location is the key to the dynamic of the almighty spread
00:06:53.380 | of God's kingdom.
00:06:55.580 | And the final observation is that whatever the limitations are culturally—I mean, it's
00:07:02.700 | pretty hard to get a space in downtown San Francisco, Vancouver, Manhattan, because you're
00:07:10.140 | going to pay a million dollars for a tiny little place.
00:07:13.740 | And of course, I just read this morning as I was praying through Operation World that
00:07:18.800 | in Libya there's a law that forbids any religious gathering over six people.
00:07:24.660 | Well, that's pretty limiting, and you don't have to obey that law since it's not biblical,
00:07:31.220 | but you might want to obey it and spread the gospel that way.
00:07:36.660 | So whatever the limitations are culturally, financially, legally, it's a wonderful and
00:07:44.180 | fitting and helpful thing when local churches can find both small expressions of fellowship
00:07:52.900 | and mutual ministry, one another ministry, and larger gatherings for worship and encouragement
00:08:00.660 | and witness.
00:08:01.660 | And I think it's significant that Acts 5.42 says, "Every day in the temple and from house
00:08:09.780 | to house they did not cease teaching and preaching that Jesus is the Christ," which seems to
00:08:15.740 | imply that there was an early sense of need that there be both larger and smaller gatherings.
00:08:22.580 | That's so good.
00:08:23.580 | Thank you, Pastor John, for addressing house churches for us today.
00:08:26.720 | On Monday, we return.
00:08:27.720 | I'll ask John Piper, "What does it mean to pray without ceasing?"
00:08:32.460 | Until then, to search through our 940 or so episodes or for more details about this podcast
00:08:37.300 | or to subscribe to the audio feed, even to send us a question of your own, go to our
00:08:41.420 | online home at DesiringGod.org/AskPastorJohn.
00:08:46.740 | I am your host, Tony Reinke.
00:08:48.180 | Have a great weekend meeting together with the gathered Church of God, whether that happens
00:08:52.420 | to be in a house or in a building.
00:08:55.420 | We'll see you on Monday.
00:08:56.220 | God bless.
00:08:56.720 | [End]
00:08:58.720 | [End]
00:09:00.720 | [End]
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