THE BELIEVER'S HOUSE IN RELATION WITH THE HOUSE OF GOD
THE BELIEVER’S HOUSE IN RELATION WITH THE HOUSE OF GOD
Luke 4:38,39; Luke 10:38 - 42; Luke 19:5 - 10; Luke 22:7 - 13
In each of these passages the Lord is seen in a house. I have in mind to show the connection there is between the believer’s house and the assembly.
We all know that, in the early days of christianity, the saints met together in the houses of believers. It says in the beginning of Acts 2:46 that they broke bread in the house; that was not one particular house, but they went from house to house. It says in Acts 5:42, that “every day in the temple and in the houses, they ceased not teaching and announcing the glad tidings that Jesus was the Christ”. We read in Acts 12 that there was a prayer meeting in the house of Mary, the mother of John who was surnamed Mark. Then we have a remarkable allusion in chapter 16, where it says that the Lord opened Lydia’s heart to attend to the things spoken by Paul. She opened her house to the apostle and to those who were with him, saying to them, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and abide there: her house thus became a centre of gathering at Philippi. It says that after the apostle was released, he went to Lydia’s house. This woman, therefore, whose heart had been opened to attend to the things spoken by Paul, had the great honour of receiving at her table the apostle Paul. “And having gone out of the prison, they came to Lydia”, and there they saw the brethren. Now it was Luke who wrote the Acts, and we can understand from the allusions made in his gospel to the various houses, that he had seen the use that could be made of these houses. Matthew mentions them still more frequently, and says that “every scribe discipled to the kingdom of the heavens is like a man that is a householder”, (Matthew 13:52).
[p. 118] The first house of which Luke speaks is that of Simon: there is nothing to indicate that Simon was converted when the Lord entered his house. His conversion took place later in his ship. What took place in his house was the healing of his mother-in-law of her fever: it says that “standing up she served them”, so the first house mentioned brings out the principle of service. The Lord standing over her, rebuked the fever. Fever gives the idea of agitation, which indicates the state of one who is not satisfied, and whose service is, therefore, impeded. One who is in this state has need of being served himself. We ought to serve one another in love, but if we wait for others to serve us, we can be certain that love is not active in us, and this comes from the fact that we are not subject. The Lord stands over her and cures her of the fever, then being healed, she is conscious of the authority of the Lord, and as it says, standing up she served them. She had no preference in her service; the most devoted service she owed to the Lord, yet it is not said that she served Him, but that “she served them”. The spirit of love is such that it serves without partiality; we receive all the saints; we ought to wash one another’s feet without partiality and without hypocrisy.
In chapter 10, Martha receives the Lord into her house. Nothing is said about reception into Simon’s house, where the Lord evidently had the liberty to enter, but it says that Martha received Him into her house. To be received into a house shows that one has a certain place there. Chapters 9 and 10 treat of this important subject of reception; at the end of chapter 9 we read, “when the days of his receiving up were fulfilled”, that is, that heaven was about to receive Him, and if you read this chapter throughout, as well as chapter 10, you will appreciate the importance of ‘receiving’. The Lord accepted His being received into Martha’s house, but we can receive into our house and yet at the same [p. 119] time not make welcome the one whom we receive. We see that Martha complained to the Lord: “Lord, dost thou not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?” Simon’s wife’s mother did not complain about her service — being cured of the fever, she served them. It is one thing to receive someone, and another thing to give them a warm welcome. Martha received the Lord, but she was not hospitable according to God’s thought; on the contrary. The Lord did not feel at home with her, for her remark was like a reproach to Him, she complained not only of Mary but of the Lord. We can receive someone in an official way and not give them hospitality in a proper manner. When the Lord ascended to heaven, He was received there with acclamation; He is to be treated by all with the deepest reverence and the greatest love, the Father’s affections to Him are to be borne witness to; yet, as she received Him, Martha scarcely accorded to Him comely hospitality. We must learn not to complain as we undertake service. From another side, we see in this house an example of one who delighted the Lord’s soul and who heard His word, and the Lord defends her: “Mary has chosen the good part, the which shall not be taken from her”. In many companies of the saints we find conditions similar to those which existed in Martha’s house, an official reception but the absence of warmth in the welcome; on the other hand, in the same company you can find those who love the Lord and who listen to His word.
Chapter 19 teaches us another lesson: Zacchaeus was a believer who “sought to see Jesus who he was”. He ran on before Jesus; his desire to see Him was excellent, but we must never run on before the Lord, but follow Him; He, and He alone, must be our guide. Zacchaeus ran on before and got up into a sycamore; he was in an abnormal position which caused him to look down upon the Lord. In His grace, the Lord looked up at him; He desired that Zacchaeus in his house should get to know [p. 120] Him, and it was in his house that he should find salvation. The Lord said to him, too, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down”; to receive the Lord well, we must come down, whatever our position. The Lord said, “Make haste and come down, for today I must remain in thy house. And he made haste and came down, and received him with joy”. He is a very different case from Martha, for he appreciated the Lord’s presence in his house, he did not receive the Lord there with an idea of protection. The Lord said, “He that receives you receives me”, (Matthew 10:40). The matter of receiving has a very important place in Luke’s gospel, whether it is a question of receiving the Lord or receiving one of His own. In chapter 9:48 He took a little child and set it by Him, and said to them, “Whosoever shall receive this little child in my name receives me, and whosoever shall receive me receives him that sent me”. What is to be noted in the reception of the Lord in Zacchaeus’s house is the joy with which he did it; the Lord said, “Today salvation is come to this house”. A great cause of weakness in all the meetings is because salvation has not come into our houses in a practical way. The character of the meeting at Philippi is to be commended particularly, and the secret of it was, without doubt, that salvation was found practically in the houses of the saints, and we have an example in Lydia’s house and the jailor’s. Lydia received the disciples into her house, and the jailor, when he was converted, received the apostle and washed his stripes in his house. We find in that same chapter (Acts 16:31), the remarkable reply of the apostle, “Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house”, as though to make us feel the importance which attaches to the believer’s house. It says that the jailor believed in God and rejoiced with all his house, so as the house is saved it makes its contribution to God’s house. The Lord said, “Today salvation is come to this house”, and He adds, speaking of Zacchaeus, “inasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham”. Zacchaeus is ennobled, so to speak; he is distinguished as “son of Abraham”, as belonging to the household of faith, for Abraham is the father of all believers.
In chapter 22 we have what is in connection with the truth of the assembly; here it is not only a question of the Lord coming into a house, but too that the passover must be celebrated, and in celebrating that, He institutes the Supper. It was a very great honour for the master of the house to have such things done in his house; the Lord evidently knew this house, and knew who was the master of it. The Lord sent Peter and John to make ready the passover, telling them how they were to find the house; He does not tell them the name of the street nor the number of the house, but speaks of a man bearing a pitcher of water who would lead them. A guide is necessary to enter this house, and a guide bearing refreshment, a pitcher of water; Peter and John were to follow him where he entered. We have before us not simply an ordinary house and the usual hospitality, but a great and precious spiritual thought; the instruction given about the other houses prepares us to accept this thought. Salvation must be in this house; the master of it submits immediately to the Lord’s wish. The man bearing the pitcher of water enters a house and shows them a large upper room furnished. We are not told who was the master of the house; rather a spiritual thought is before us, for we pass now from the believer’s house to the house of God. “The Teacher says to thee, Where is the guest-chamber where I may eat the passover with my disciples? And he will show you a large upper room furnished: there make ready”.
So we see how the truth as to the believer’s house leads to the matter of the passover. The passover gives the idea of the absence of sin in the house, for they were forbidden to have leaven in their houses. Then from the passover we are led to the Lord’s supper. In this [p. 122] house, the Lord takes, so to speak, the place of the master of the house; the celebration of the passover was in a family gathering, presided over by the head of the house. We can say that the house in Luke 22 comes into the Lord’s hands; then we see how the Lord’s supper, which is the symbol of all the instruction and of all the blessing of the house of God, flows from the passover. In this house, the Lord reveals His love to us; He says, “This is my body which is given for you”, and then, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you”. I believe that, in Luke’s gospel, ordinary hospitality is a lesson for us as to the way in which God dispenses hospitality in His house. When the prodigal returned, what a reception awaited him! It says that his father ran, and fell on his neck, and covered him with kisses. Then too, he says to his bondmen, “Bring out the best robe and clothe him in it, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry”, for “it was right to make merry and rejoice”, (Luke 15:22 - 23; Luke 15:32). In the case of the prodigal son, we see perhaps the greatest example of divine reception; in the house, it says, there was music and dancing. In this way, dear brethren, Luke teaches us how we should receive. In Romans 15:7, it says, “receive ye one another, according as the Christ also has received you to the glory of God”.