HOME: The Foundation
Further Defined
Ephesians 2
In a society that has God
for its one and only God, to speak of the sure foundation
on which to build would be sufficient. But, unfortunately,
it no longer suffices for us; it's not enough to say that
anymore. In our pluralistic society where Americans serve
a multitude of gods and where even religion is some people's
religion, the foundation on which we must build needs to
be defined. It is seen most clearly in the Ephesian epistle.
In Ephesians 2:19-21, we read:
"Consequently, you are no longer
foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people
and members of God's household, built on the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself
as the chief cornerstone. In Him the whole building is joined
together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord."
In reference to the home, that tells us two things.
First, for the Christian home,
the foundation stone, the cornerstone on which all else
depends, must be the Lord Jesus Himself. If we build our
homes on religion, the home crumbles. If we build our homes
on Allah or Buddha or materialism or philosophy or anything
except the Lord Jesus, we are following a formula for failure.
Second, notice what else
this verse says. Perhaps more clearly than anything else
I've read in Scripture, this phrase helps us to understand
the goal for our homes: "it rises to become a holy
temple in the Lord." Now what is this talking about
specifically? Well, what did Paul most frequently write
about? He wrote about the church and about the followers
of Christ. Here, the context is both.
He begins talking about
the Ephesians as Gentiles being brought into the Kingdom
of God through Jesus Christ and made a part of the household
of faith. And then He moves to include them in the household
of faith, and to say with confidence that it, the church,
the body of believers of which they are now a part, is built
on the cornerstone of Jesus Christ. The phrase, "the
whole building," comes from a phrase that has a two-fold
meaning. Specifically it refers directly to that about which
Paul was writing: the church. Generally, the implication
is that anything built honorably on the cornerstone of Jesus
Christ rises to become a holy temple in the Lord; not "the"
holy temple, but "a" holy temple in the Lord.
Of all things, the home,
the pattern after which the church was built, must surely
have as its foundation the Lord Jesus Christ. Does that
mean our homes will become temples to which people will
come for worship? No.
Does it mean that our
homes should become places where we freely worship God,
where we teach our children to worship and live for God,
where we instruct each other in the ways of the Lord? Absolutely!!!!
It must rise to become a holy temple in the Lord, perhaps
even more so than the church, because it is the place where
faith is first taught.
In reality, the church
and the home should both rise together to become holy temples
to the Lord. Is the Lord being honored in your home? Commit
today to making any changes necessary to make honoring the
Lord a reality in your home.
