8.1 Key themes⤒🔗

• The eighteenth mark of a mature Christian is that he is a servant of God at home.
• A Christian’s household (home and family) is important to God.
• The world teaches us to think that life outside the home is more important than life inside the home.
• The truth is that the Christian’s home is a special place for serving God.
• Your own household is connected to God’s household, the church.
  - Your household is a picture of God’s household.
  - Your household prepares you for eternal life in God’s household.
  - Your household is part of God’s household.

18.2 - 1 Timothy 3:4-7←⤒🔗

^4. He must manage his own householdwell and keep his children in control without losing his dignity.

^5. But if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for the church of God?

^6. He must not be a recent convert or he may become arrogant and fall into the punishment that the devil will exact.

^7. And he must be well thought of by those outside the faith, so that he may not fall into disgrace and be caught by the devil’s trap.

© NET Bible

18.3 The eighteenth mark of a mature Christian: A servant of God at home←⤒🔗

In this lesson we will think about 1 Timothy 3:4-5:

He [a church overseer] must manage his own household well and keep his children in control without losing his dignity. But if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for the church of God?

Here God says that a Christian man can only become a church leader if he leads his own household well. The same instruction is found in Titus 1:6. Clearly, a Christian’s household (home and family) is very important to God.

Do you have a place to stay? No matter how big or small your home is, God calls you to take care of it and to use it for his kingdom.

Are you a husband and father? God calls you to be the loving leader of your family.

Are you a wife and mother? God calls you to be a helper to your husband, a fellow leader of your children, and a caretaker of your home.

Are you a child, staying with your parents (or other caregivers)? God calls you to honour and obey them, while you learn and grow in wisdom.

Perhaps there are other people living with you: your elderly parents, other family members, or people who work for you. God calls you to make your home a good place for them.

Or perhaps you are living all by yourself. In this very small household, you are still called to serve God. In fact, while you live alone, you have a chance to serve God in special ways (1 Corinthians 7:32-35).

God placed you in your household for a reason. Your household is important to him. If you want to serve God and become a mature Christian, then start at home!

18.4 A special place for serving God←⤒🔗

Do you believe that your life at home is important to God? If you struggle to believe this, it might be because you are believing some of the lies of the world. In the eyes of the world, the most important people are those people with great careers and a lot of money. In the eyes of the world, the most important work is the work that is seen and praised by many people. Such lies lead us to think that life outside the home is more important than life inside the home.

But that is not true. Think again about the first thirty years of Jesus’ life. He spent those years mostly at home, doing humble things such as helping his parents, cutting wood, and making furniture. Not many people knew him or saw the things that he did.

But God saw everything. God heard every word that he spoke to his family members and friends. At the end of those thirty years, God said this about him, “This is my one dear Son; in him I take great delight” (Matthew 3:17).

If you belong to Jesus, your home becomes a special place for serving God. It becomes a place where you, like Jesus, can bring great delight to God’s heart!

18.5 Your household and God’s household←⤒🔗

Why is the Christian’s household so important to God? To answer this question, we should understand that the Christian’s household is connected to a greater household. This greater household is God’s household, the church (1 Timothy 3:15).

How is your own, small household connected to the great household of God? Here are three ways:

1. Your household is a picture of God’s household.←↰⤒🔗

Our households in this world will not last forever. But God made the household in a special way, to be a “picture” of his eternal household. For example:

A loving, welcoming home is a picture of the heavenly home where we will live one day.

A holy marriage is a picture of the eternal marriage between Christ and his church.

Parents who love and lead their children are a picture of God the Father, who loves and leads his children.

Children who obey their parents are a picture of Jesus Christ, the Son of God who obeys his Father in everything.

The hard work that we do in a household is a picture of the work that God does to care for his people.

Yes, we are broken, sinful pictures. But if we belong to Christ, his Spirit works in us. He slowly changes us into beautiful pictures of God and his household!

2. Your household prepares you for eternal life in God’s household.←↰⤒🔗

The home is a place where we feel safe and where we relax. It is there where we show  our true colours. This is why Paul writes that a church must first look at a man’s leadership at home before they make him a leader in the church.

That is also why the home is the best place to practice holiness. Do you want to grow in patience and kindness? Then be more patient and kind with the people in your home! Do you want your children to be faithful and hard-working? Then give them household tasks and teach them to complete those tasks faithfully.

The home can be the hardest place to live a holy life. But it is also the best place to grow in holiness. It is the best place to prepare ourselves for our eternal, holy life in heaven.

3. Your household is part of God’s household.←↰⤒🔗

Every Christian household is part of God’s greater household, the church. Even if the rest of your household is not Christian, you are still part of God’s household. This means that God is present in your household in a special way (1 Corinthians 7:14).

If your household is part of God’s household, it means that you can serve God’s household in your own home! You can do this, for example,

• by making your home a place of prayer, where you pray daily for your own church and for believers in other places;
• using your home to welcome, help, and encourage your fellow believers;
• using your home to show God’s love and share God’s Word with non-Christian family members and friends;
• teaching the children in your home about God and his ways (in this way you are strengthening the next generation of the church);
• (if you are a woman), teaching and showing the other women in your church how to take good care of their homes (see Titus 2:3-5).

A mature Christian is a servant of God at home. Perhaps, before you go to the next lesson, you can look back at some of the marks of maturity that we have studied so far. Ask yourself, “How can I practice these marks when I’m at home?”