The Simple Answers… To Life’s Most Important Questions.
Bible Study Course Lesson 9 –9
All of us, by eating the forbidden fruit, were declaring as the prodigal son had, “I’m going to start my own house now”; and so we were kicked out of God’s house, the garden, and we were “dead to him”. And how has that worked for us?
Have we built a better inheritance than our elder brother Jesus, who stayed and diligently worked for His Father? Or did we spend our inheritance on false churches and riotous living? And when things didn’t go our way, how did apprenticing to the world and gleaning for ourself work? Luke 15:15-16.
Obviously, it is easier to make a name for yourself if you’re not in someone else’s house (Genesis 12:1-2). But in someone else’s house, your name is much more likely to survive. Because being head of your own house is a lot harder than it looks when you’re 18 years old.
Which is why the prodigal son went back to his father’s house in shame and begged to be a hired servant (Luke 15:18-19). As must we all. Because we have all failed to build an eternal house of our own like we were so sure we could (Psalms 49:11).
All hope of constructing an eternal house of our own vanished when the first sin leavened the rest of our body with spiritual termites. Now, though, we’ve been given a chance to found a house within the house of God. Not really our house, but in a way… yes, our house, inside of God’s house.
The first generation of houses under God were the apostles; but not just the original twelve, for anyone who has been sent since the creation of Adam, anyone who started his own house in God’s name is an apostle – and Jesus said He would send many such people (Matthew 23:34, Mark 12:1-9).
Apostles are men who are sent by God with a unique understanding; men who didn’t just repackage existing understanding from some other man, but who founded their own house, more or less from scratch, with God’s help of course (Galatians 1:11-18).
But just like our 18-year-old above, that’s a lot harder than it might sound; so given the chance, you’d be an idiot not to choose to be the minister of an apostle –just as the prodigal son should have chosen. He eventually realized it was better to serve in another man’s name, than to starve in your own (Psalms 84:10).
This way, you’ll be more-or-less guaranteed some place in the house. No, you won’t have the glory that, say, Nebuchadnezzar could have claimed (Daniel 4:30). This was what the prodigal son wanted; to be able to say that he did it all by himself. And look how that worked out for him and the king of Babylon.
And what motivates people to make those choices? Daniel 5:20. What is the inevitable result of saying “I can choose the fruit for myself just fine”? Proverbs 16:18. Because whatever we might think, no house is truly built without assistance (Psalms 127:1, Daniel 4:17).
So is it better to have 100% of the credit for a failure… or 5% of the credit for a success? Is it better to be your own failed apostle… or the lowest minister of a minister of a minister of a true apostle? Only the pride of an unbroken heart and the arrogance of an unbroken spirit would have you choose the former.
FIRST AMONG EQUALS
You cannot ever be your own father, but you can stand out among your brethren (1 Chronicles 5:2), and earn a name even while in your father’s house (Isaiah 22:23-24). You can make your own house great, even within his house, which itself is within His father’s house. How did Jesus do that? Hebrews 1:9.
There was not much reason to distinguish between the twelve tribes of Israel, as long as they lived together and recognized a common head, for they were all the same house (Exodus 16:31, etc.). Yet it had always been twelve separate tribes, under twelve separate princes (Numbers 1:1-16).
When you were young, did you think of some portion of the food in the house as your food, separate from your brother’s food? Of course not; because you shared a common father and mother, and you knew you had all things common! (Acts 4:32).
The ekklesia of God is one house. And there was no reason to constantly distinguish between the houses within it, or the possessions and disciples of each apostle, as long as they were under a common elder head (James, apparently, in Acts 15:13-19).
Yet they had always been twelve separate houses, as each apostle was given different tasks (John 21:15-23). The twelve were sent to create twelve houses in God’s name (Matthew 28:19-20). But the twelve were reluctant to leave Jerusalem behind, both literally and in doctrine.
Perhaps because of this, God called Paul to go to the places they would not (Romans 11:13). Actually, he called two people; Acts 13:2. Now most people don’t realize it, but Barnabas was just as much an apostle as the twelve were, because God had sent him! (Acts 14:14).
These apostles were brethren; and at first, they were “Barnabas and Saul”, because Barnabas was spiritually elder, having first appeared in Acts 4:36. But after the blinding of Elymas, they were known as “Paul and company” (compare Acts 13:7 and Acts 13:13).
Barnabas went from first billing to being an unnamed member of Paul’s “company”… Paul’s house. This was when Paul made a name for himself, and founded his own HOUSE! Much like David made a name that outshone his own elders Jesse and Judah.
DIVISION AMONG BRETHREN
To be considered an apostle, you must answer to God alone –which is why Paul was an apostle of God, sent to be head of his own house, not one sent by other apostles. Paul was God’s servant, not the servant of the other apostles (Romans 14:4, 7-10).
Paul had gone to considerable effort to avoid building upon another apostle’s foundation (think about the word “foundation”, as it pertains to a house) (Romans 15:20). Because he didn’t want to step on their toes, or risk robbing their house of disciples (Proverbs 25:17).
But this was not a courtesy the rest of the apostles were showing him (Acts 15:19-24). What Paul taught his children was his own business; after all, if someone told you that you were raising your children wrong, wouldn’t you say “you raise your kids your way, let me raise mine my way?”
Ultimately, how they each built their houses was their own business (Acts 15:36-41). But the Jews couldn’t leave it at that (Galatians 4:17-18). They felt compelled to ensure their “nephews” were raised “correctly”, even if that meant going behind his back to seduce them away from him, which risked them running afoul of scriptures like Job 20:19, 28.
Obviously, I’m not saying they shouldn’t criticize each other when they sinned (Leviticus 19:17, Galatians 2:11-14). In fact, Jesus encourages these kinds of fights among His children (Luke 12:49-53). But openly, as Paul did to Peter; not secretly, behind the back of the head of the house (1 Timothy 5:19-20).
Siblings in every house often have rivalries and jealousies, and resolving these issues over time helps them become better adults (Proverbs 27:17, 1 John 2:19). That’s why He left them with ways to work out these kinds of problems (Matthew 18:15-20).
And the way they were doing it, even if Paul had been wrong (which he wasn’t), was the wrong way (Proverbs 16:28). If he were wrong, it would have been better to rebuke him, and if he wouldn’t listen… then let Paul raise the children God had trusted him with in his own way; if their Father didn’t like it… let their Father deal with it (1 Samuel 26:9-11).
A NEW HOUSE
Paul and Barnabas worked together as a team for many years; and even though both were apostles with a right to have their own separate house, they functioned as a single house. But then one day they had a huge fight in Acts 15:36-39.
While Paul could well have been wrong, Mark was Barnabas’ nephew (Colossians 4:10), and the word “nepotism” literally translates as “nephewism”… so the herd instinct could easily have clouded his judgment.
We do know at least one of them wasn’t ruling their heart and breaking their spirit because of Proverbs 13:10. They really should have been able to work this out, and God would have been prouder if they had been able to “dwell together in unity” (Psalms 133:1).
But He also knows it isn’t realistic to expect barely-grown children to be able to work out all their issues with each other every time. Which is why from this point Barnabas broke away from Paul’s company and became Barnabas and company (Mark). Two separate houses! Like they always had been, even though they had agreed to act as one house. After all, isn’t that what Amos 3:3 says?
Later Barnabas reconciled with Paul, and Paul changed his mind about Mark/Marcus, although we don’t know why (2 Timothy 4:11). Maybe Paul had been wrong… or maybe Paul’s rejection was exactly the motivation Mark needed to grow up.
Either way, both men had a chance to make a name for themselves; both men had a chance to build their own house as they saw fit, and work past their pride and unite the house again when possible. As should all of us. But not at the expense of Truth (Jeremiah 6:12-14).
Make no mistake, the twelve should have been able to work together in harmony, and Barnabas and Paul acted like petty children… because they were spiritual children! But they had to go through that to learn how to work these things out for themselves.
If God had immediately stepped in and banged their heads together, they would not have become the men they needed to be. Because while God would love for all His children to dwell in unity, there are more important things than that in this world; which is why He came to divide houses, not unite them.
He came to give them challenges to see which of His children were capable of humbling themselves under the truth and living in unity with their brethren… and ALSO to see which were capable of rejecting the houses of rebellious brethren and walking alone instead (Jeremiah 15:17).
FALSE HOUSES
Think about Revelation 2:2 for a moment; if there were only twelve apostles, what exactly was the point in pretending to be a new apostle? But if we knew that not only Paul and the twelve, but also Barnabas, Epaphroditus, John the Baptist, Jesus, and who knows how many others were also apostles… this makes sense.
Because the existence of potentially false apostles proves the existence of new true apostles. Likewise, think about Acts 20:30; if only Jesus had disciples, then how could people be deceived into becoming disciples of someone else? The existence of false disciples proves the existence of the ongoing creation of true disciples.
Both of these things prove the existence of evil houses who gather disciples (Acts 20:29), which indirectly proves the existences of worthy houses which gather disciples. There were such houses in every city, often more than one; and Paul went to each of them (Acts 20:20).
And not all of these houses were worthy, in Paul’s eyes; he had bad experiences with Alexanders, it seems (1 Timothy 1:20, 2 Timothy 4:14), and so he marked those who were causing divisions in Paul’s house (Philippians 3:16-19), so that his other children would know whom he approved of and whom he did not (1 Corinthians 16:15-16).
As Jesus Himself instructed them… you had to go to the house and see whether it was worthy or not (Matthew 10:11-15). Worthy to be a disciple of; worthy to send your own disciples to; worthy to consider a brother.
When Jesus came to the house of the Jews, He found them unworthy to apprentice under (Matthew 23:15-16). It’s likely that’s what He was verifying in the temple (Luke 2:45-49, Isaiah 50:2, Isaiah 63:3-5, etc.).
Not only that, but He saw He couldn’t repair their house, even though He had tried (Luke 13:34-35). There was simply nothing there worth saving (Isaiah 1:4-6, Mark 2:22). So He and those of His house –remember, not His Church, but His house –rejected the house of the Jews.
Not the Church, nor even the religion, but the house of the Jews was “left unto them desolate”. God had committed to them the oracles of God (Romans 3:1-2). The house of Abraham, the house of faith, was their birthright (Acts 3:25-26, 13:46).
New children had to be born through them, by circumcision, for there was no one else who had the words of life (Acts 15:1). But what these Jewish Christians didn’t realize, nor want to accept, was that God had closed up the womb of Hagar.
Which means when Jesus and His apostles left the house of the Jews, new children in God’s house wouldn’t be Jewish but Christian –regardless of their genetic heritage (Romans 10:12, Colossians 3:11), all new children would be part of the house of Christ.
CHRISTIANS
Let’s pause and think for a moment about that word, “Christian”. It’s used around the world millions of times a day, and yet no one thinks about what it says. Define it, off the top of your head; what does it mean? You might say “follower of Christ”, or “believer in Christ”, or “member of God’s Church”. WRONG.
This is why the paradigm is so damaging; because if this were literally any other word, you’d know instantly what it means. You use it all the time. What does it mean, to tack “-ian” on the end of a noun? “One from, belonging to, relating to, or like” (Wiktionary, -ian).
An Ital-ian boat belongs to Italy. An Ital-ian purse was made in Italy. If you were an Ital-ian, you’d be someone from Italy. But people are still called Italian, even if they’ve never even been to Italy. Because they’re Italian by ancestry.
Because their PARENTS were Italian… which means they are related to other Italians… or, said differently, they belong to the HOUSE of Italy! Everyone knows this! So why do they forget it whenever they put “Christ” before “-ian”?
The word in Acts 11:26 is the Greek Christianos, which is just Christ+ianos, the same suffix we use today. There are two theories on what that suffix meant in Greek, both of which are probably true, but either of which proves my point.
One theory says that -ianos is a diminutive suffix meaning “little Christs”. The other, that -ianos means “belonging to a master, as a slave or a soldier”. In other words, to be a Christian, you must legally belong to Jesus (1 Corinthians 6:20).
Or, having fulfilled your bondservice (John 15:15), it would mean that you are “little Christs”; miniature copies of Him, younger brothers of His. But my main point is that you must belong to Him. Simply following Him, hearing His theories, showing up at a Church bearing His name, is not enough (Ezekiel 33:30-33).
The proselytes of the Jews belonged to the house of the Jews (Galatians 4:17-18), legally, through circumcision (Galatians 5:3). Breaking that covenant, disobeying the Jews, would have brought a curse (Galatians 3:10, Matthew 23:1-3). And the Jews jealously wanted to hang on to that authority (Acts 15:1), even the Jews who were supposed to be part of Jesus’ house now (Acts 15:5). Those who had escaped the curse through Christ wanted to ensnare others in that very same curse! (Galatians 6:12-13)
ROOTING CUTTINGS
The “Jewish Christians” wanted to be in both houses, and that doesn’t work (Matthew 6:24). Because there IS NO SUCH THING as a Jewish Christian! These are two different houses, and you cannot serve both!
The Jewish house had their chance (many of them, in fact), and for obvious reasons, the Jews were never again to be entrusted with raising God’s family. Their fig tree was cursed, for it (and the OC) had not borne fruit in 4,000 years, despite ample fertilizing with prophets for the previous 1,000 (Luke 13:7-10).
Instead a new branch of the family, pictured by a different tree, a spiritual tree, would take over; one that would bear fruit –Jesus’ grapevine. And His sub-houses would be the apostles (John 15:5), the undershepherds taking the oversight of His flocks in His absence. They are, obviously, branches of the vine, servants of the vine and thus, dependent upon the vine (John 15:6). And yet…
John 14:16 (YLT) Ye did not choose out me, but I chose out you, and did appoint you, that ye might go away, and might bear fruit, and your fruit might remain…
Note that Jesus expects them, the branches, to “go away”! But real branches don’t do that (verse 6 again); and yet Jesus is not breaking the metaphor here; on the contrary, He’s just thinking it through; because He said these branches must go away AND bear much fruit!
So ask yourself, in what real-world case does that ever happen? Defective, unproductive branches are cut off and burned in the pruning, as He mentioned already (and metaphorically mentioned again in 2 Timothy 2:18-21). But obviously, the apostles were not the excess, ugly, or weak branches; they were to be the foundation of a new house!
As it happens, new grape vines are rarely produced from seeds, because seeds cause random genetic changes and may not produce a fruit that’s as good as the parent; they might, but they’re too unreliable. Instead, grape vines are propagated from cuttings!
Most fruit trees are produced by grafting onto a different root stock or by cutting off branches and letting them grow their own roots! Which is why Revelation 22:2 says the single tree of life was on both sides of the tree of life, while Ezekiel says there were very many trees; because BOTH are true!
Healthy branches are cut off by the husbandman [the Father], placed in fertile soil [a worthy house], shaded [by the head of that house, like Noah did], and watered carefully [by Jesus] (Ezekiel 17:3-8, Psalms 80:7-10). Of course, not all of these cuttings survive (Proverbs 12:3).
Yet in time most sprout roots of their own, capable of reaching into the river on their own, and being their own plant… and yet they remain genetically identical to the original vine! For genetically, all 144,000 cuttings are ONE plant – spiritually identical to Jesus! (John 17:21).
And yet, obviously, they are separate plants… different houses within one greater house! And Jesus wanted these houses to spread out and make disciples of all nations, filling the world; to do that, He needed them to “go away, and bear much fruit”.
Compare that to Matthew 26:31, which tells the same story with a different metaphor. In order to overcome the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the VINE we are part of had to die! So before that happened, lest the house die with Him, we needed to be SCATTERED!
Which is why it’s important we grow strong as a disciple, so that when we are cut off, we will have our own ROOTS (Matthew 13:21), so we can reach the Father’s water on our own! (Ephesians 3:17, Colossians 2:7).
PRUNING THE OLIVE
In another version of the same parable (my own version this time, based on what “nature itself” teaches us), consider a pruned olive tree below at left. Notice how different it looks from a “natural” untended olive tree at right. What’s different? What’s missing? And why?
Olive growers prune their trees so “that it may bring forth more fruit” (John 15:2). Obviously, they cut off the diseased and unwanted branches first, but even the good branches are “purged” to increase the production of the tree. But why, exactly?
A tree is like any other organism; it exists to reproduce as often and as much as possible. So the tree will, given a chance, grow far more fruit than it can support. The result will be a large crop of small, poorly formed, or bad tasting fruit.
So the fewer branches –to a point –that the plant has, the better able the tree will be to manage them –and the more it can focus all its resources on making those fruits the best they can be. Because God wants quality, not quantity –just like every farmer (John 15:16).
But not like the tree itself would want! The tree, given a choice, wants to be the biggest tree it can be; and while it instinctively wants to have offspring, it really doesn’t care about the quality of the offspring. Just the number of them.
So every year the husbandman takes a close look at the branches and cuts out all the obvious bad ones; and then carefully goes through the ones that remain to choose the ones that show the most promise so that all of them can produce more fruit.
If God was concerned with this life, then His tree would grow as big and strong and tall as possible – just like the houses in the world (Daniel 4:9-12, Ezekiel 31:2-9). But God has chosen the low things (James 1:9-10). He likes short trees that produce great, lasting fruit! (Ezekiel 17:2-6, 22-24).
DEATH OF A LEADER
Interestingly, the most common way to prune fruit trees, including olives, is called the goblet method; basically, you shape the tree so that the branches look like a goblet; and the very first step in that is to remove what’s called the “central leader”, the young trunk.
Now why would you do that? Why not keep the best, tallest branches and let the other branches be trimmed? To answer that, imagine you’re one of the lower branches of that unpruned tree, above. Look up? What do you see? Leaves. Darkness. Small shafts of light that drift through your brethren.
The reason farmers prune the central shaft away from the tree is that it shades the lower branches too much! It blocks out the sun and diminishes airflow, robbing the lower branches of nutrients and airflow, promoting mold and disease! Just like every Church!
God would rather prune a tree to be humble and produce fruit to last forever than have His Earthly family be a mighty tree like the Catholic Church. That’s why His tree had to be topped, the Shepherd HAD to be smitten… and every farmer in Israel knew exactly why!
The firstborn, oldest member of the olive tree must be cut off in order for the rest of the tree to bear the highest quality fruit! Because it hides the lower branches from God, making their lives much easier… but it also hides God from them, making it much harder for them to grow to their full potential!
If there were someone that I could turn to when things got tough, and say “fix this, I’m tired”, I would often have done so. But if I had the option just to give up any time I got frustrated, I’d never reach my full potential and bear the best fruit.
When branches are young, they need shade, they need the branches above them to take the heat of the sun, convert it into sugars, and share God’s food with them. But if parents shade them too much, they’ll never learn to bear fruit for themselves, which is why we’re all here! (Micah 7:1-2, 7).
That’s why Noah, Moses, Jesus and others needed to die to expose their sons to the sun; their jobs were to “train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). And then to let him go walk that way.
Every Church ever formed by men, righteous or not, has resisted this last part, and tried to retain control over her children as long as possible for their own protection; and inevitably, those groups have fallen away because their shepherd was smitten (Judges 2:7-12), and they had never been forced to shepherd themselves while an elder shepherd was around to correct them!
Which is why the ekklesia of God is being specifically designed never to fall away because every true member, at some point in THIS life, learns how to stand on his or her own two feet as an INDEPENDENT Christian!
Which is why it was good for them that He was cut off (John 16:7). Because the only way for them to be shaded a little bit when they needed it, and not at all when they didn’t… to both shade them, and not shade them… was for Jesus to become a cloud again! A spirit again! (Psalms 121:1-8). A comforting cloud!
Jesus promised He would never leave them nor forsake them (Hebrews 13:5); so when He, the central leader was cut off, it allowed Him to shade them from much higher, advocating for them from much closer to God, and challenging them and helping them with much more subtlety; varying the density of the cloud to provide exactly the right amount of shade at the right time (Job 36:26-33).
Forcing them to grow, but never giving them more than they could handle (1 Corinthians 10:13). So when they were strong, He could let them face the full sun. When they were dry, He could rain God’s words upon them. When they were weak, He could bring them shade from judgment… all made possible by immersing us in the cloud (1 Corinthians 10:1-2).
A HOUSE DIVIDED
The houses we build in this world, literal and genetic, spiritual and metaphorical, are just metaphors to teach us about the real house we already failed to build. These literal houses and genetic households of ours are just sandbox toys, Legos and Lincoln Logs to teach us how every kind of house must be built.
Likewise the spiritual houses of faith we build and the metaphorical households that God gives us (Isaiah 8:18, Acts 2:47, Mark 10:29-30) are also a sandbox; a significantly more important one, yet nevertheless just another training tool God gave us.
A sort of living metaphor we can use to better understand what it means to be a man under authority, and a man in authority over others. How you relate to your brethren and solve problems in this house is preparation for how you will solve problems in the true House in Hebrews 12:22-23.
Because regardless of how many houses there may be on this Earth, true and otherwise, there is only one church. And that ekklesia is God’s house (1 Peter 2:5). And obviously, God’s house cannot be divided (Luke 11:17); and yet… God’s house is already divided!
Because just like every other house, it has countless individual households doing their own things independently within one united house! (Mark 9:37-40).
Does your son not getting along with his sister mean they aren’t both your children? So when Paul’s house was divided against the house of the twelve, God’s house was not divided… at least, not more than it already was supposed to be!
And if they weren’t mature enough to solve this problem between them, better for them to separate and each follow their conscience –or their pride, as the case may be –so that somewhere, someone in His house would be speaking His words (Philippians 1:12-18).
This makes the ekklesia, as a whole, extremely resistant to deception; because if one house is deceived, the others can simply say “that’s not what Dad said” and move on with their lives. Which is precisely WHY they WERE separate houses, not a monolithic, universal, catholic Church!
A PARABLE OF THE OLIVE TREE
As you saw above, in a wild olive tree the branches and leaves are densely packed; but in a properly pruned olive tree, each branch forms clusters of leaves with fruits among them. They are pruned this way, as I said above, to make sure that all the branches get plenty of light and air, but also to make sure that if one branch is diseased, if one cluster of leaves develops mold or leprosy, the husbandman can prune it off before it spreads to the rest of the tree.
If you look at that olive tree and imagine yourself as one of the leaves, you could be forgiven for thinking that you –or your small house of 5, 10, or 20 leaves –were the only leaves on the tree. Not having eyes, your only communication with other members of your tree family are through the branches; you send the trunk sugars from your labors, it sends you water from its roots.
The trunk has no reason to tell you of the woes or successes of other branches; and every reason to keep you isolated from their potential disease and deception. If you knew there were plenty of other leaves, you might not work as hard; meaning you would not reach your own full potential. Even if there were, in fact, 7,000 other leaves on the tree (1 Kings 19:14,18).
And if you imagine yourself as a branch, why would the trunk need to tell you what the other branches are doing, or how many there are? Your job, as a branch, is to have as many twigs as you can support, reaching as far into the light as possible, to give your trunk as much energy as possible.
How you compare to the other branches is not relevant; the health of the tree as a whole is not your problem. So mind your own business; see to the health of your own twigs, make them work together, send them off in the directions where the light is strongest, avoid competing with the other branches in your way… and let the root worry about the trunk, and the trunk worry about the other branches. (Romans 11:18).
Because our responsibility, whether as a twig or as a branch or as a leaf, is to work in harmony for the good of the house. To work with our brethren, not against them. To do the best job we can, not to do better than others; nor to slack off just because the tree has plenty of other branches.
God keeps His houses isolated for many good reasons, and you probably will never find another person who believes the things in these lessons; and yet, that doesn’t mean they’re not out there; it just means that the husbandman prunes off any branches that get too close to their brethren.
He guides the twigs into clusters, keeping them from crossing over into their neighbors’ houses and rubbing against their branches and causing both houses disease. He also prunes off any overly ambitious leaders that run straight for the sky and forget about building a house in His name; He also trims off any branches who, regardless of their good intentions, shade their brethren and their children too much.
And He does all of that without telling you or asking your permission (Jeremiah 18:1-6). Because your job, your only job, is to obey your Branch; and take care of your leaves and your fruits in the name of the Branch, so that you can all bear fruits to please the Husbandman of the field –the Father.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
If the head of the house believed, more often than not, his house was convinced along with him (Acts 10:2, 16:31-34, 18:8, etc.). Because a wise man, led by a soul, doesn’t simply command his house; he has the ability to lead it, which is to say, to reason with its members as a man reasons with his own body and spirit.
In times of crisis, yes, he must command; but he will never secure a stable, happy home as a dictator. And that’s why men like Joshua were able to say… Joshua 24:15. Because Joshua understood the truth clearly enough that he knew he could win those arguments with his family… as he had already done with his own fractions!
And yet the danger of heresy was if the head of the house fell for the deception, the whole house might go with him (Titus 1:11). The centralized authority structure of the age of the kings allowed for just such mass deception; for if the king was evil, so was the entire nation (2 Chronicles 33:1-9).
If the high priest was evil or merely not good at ruling his house, the whole nation suffered (1 Samuel 2:27-34). Thus the devil only had to corrupt one man to corrupt the nation. So God had to replace those corruptible people with an incorruptible Priest (verses 35-36), with heirs organized into separate houses, not great Churches.
When the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions were enacted forbidding Church gatherings, that didn’t affect my house at all; because we didn’t go to Church, we are the ekklesia. We talk about these things when we rise up, when we are in the way, when we stand on the Sabbath, so on. And it’s very difficult for any government to pass a law forbidding that (much less enforce it!).
Which is why perhaps the greatest advantage of the house paradigm is that if one shepherd is smitten, only that house would fall away… which makes it VERY hard for Satan to ever find ALL the houses and deceive ALL of them!
This is why toppling, say, Hussain’s Iraq was relatively easy –there was a big target to shoot at. Toppling the Taliban, on the other hand, proved impossible because there was no one leader, no one organization, but many independent CELLS… or… HOUSES!
The larger the organization, and the more centralized the power structure, the more easily it is infiltrated and destroyed. It’s hard to kill an enemy you can’t find, hard to deceive an ekklesia that isn’t a Church! Deceive Paul, and Peter continues to teach the truth; deceive Demas, and Timothy carries on (2 Timothy 4:10).
The greater the house, the greater the risk that all of the house would be deceived together; and so by having many “little flocks” (Luke 12:32, John 10:16), grains of wheat “sifted among all nations” (Amos 9:9), God made it impossible for Satan to even find all the true Christians, much less deceive them all! (Revelation 12:14-17).
Which allows us to finally explain one of the great contradictions in the Bible; which together are the “one scripture”;
Luke 9:50 And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.
Matthew 12:30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
These seem like direct contradictions; and yet, if you really pay attention, they aren’t at all. Read them; now read them again; what is different, besides the obvious contradiction?
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Come on, you really should be able to figure this out…
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One verse is how this affects “me”… the other is how it affects “us”. One verse is about Jesus’ house… and one verse was about His Father’s house. As always, think of this in the most practical, literal terms first; think about your own family, your own brother’s house.
When your brother makes money, is that your money? Of course not. It’s his money. If you and your grown brother go out and gather grain, you each gather it into your own barns. So he that is not gathering with YOU is against YOU.
And yet, your brother is not your enemy; even if you are competing for the same resources, wouldn’t you rather your brother had the grain than, say, your enemy? Wouldn’t you say, “at least we’re keeping it in the family?” #GoldenRuled! So he that is not against your family is FOR YOUR FATHER’S HOUSE!
If you are not with my house you are against my house. If you are not working for me, helping me gather disciples into my house… then you are scattering seed abroad. But is that such a bad thing? Proverbs 11:24.
Again, think of the metaphor Jesus was alluding to; what was He talking about gathering and scattering? Harvesting and planting GRAIN! Those who don’t gather disciples in His name are scattering the seeds abroad… but that’s not such a bad thing (Matthew 13:3-23).
Spreading seed in the world is preaching the gospel; whomever does it, and why ever they do it (Philippians 1:14-18), it’s a good thing… even though it doesn’t directly help MY house, doesn’t gather seed to ME… the seed is going SOMEWHERE!
Which means that anyone who isn’t actively TEARING DOWN our house is, in some indirect way… helping us in BUILDING IT! (Romans 8:28). Thus, even those who teach Christ for their own selfish reasons are helping US build OUR house! 1 Corinthians 3:7-8.
Why would you want to forbid them from doing that?
Yet these other men and angels who “scatter seed abroad” are not houses; for they are not sent by Jesus, thus they don’t carry His name. Because those who are not disciples of Jesus are against His house, but not necessarily against His Father’s house! OUR house!
These leaders are competing against Jesus for disciples, trying to spread the word of God in their own way for their own selfish reasons. Yet anyone who spreads the words of His Father, for any reason, is helping His Father’s house by spreading at least a few of His Father’s words.
And so when you think about it, what Jesus was really saying in those no-longer-contradictory verses, is… “He that is not my disciple, not in my house… is in someone else’s Church”.
And yet any Church that is not against His Father; any group who shares even a portion of the Truth is, however badly, sowing seed abroad. And it may happen that one of these small grains of truth might accidentally fall on good ground.
And if that potential apprentice loves that morsel and goes looking for more, he will realize that was the only piece of Truth his Church had; at which point, the Father can then start this unborn disciple on a path that leads to Jesus’s House.
Or the house of one of His disciples.