The Simple Answers… To Life’s Most Important Questions.
Bible Study Course Lesson 9 -8
The ekklesia is patterned after a family, and in a proper family, there should be authority, honoring of parents, grandparents, and so on; it’s one of the ten commandments, in fact. And yet within that authority structure, each house is remarkably independent.
How often did Jacob go back and ask Isaac’s permission to do something? When he was grown he had the right to do stupid things – as long as he was willing to pay for them. After all, that’s what the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is all about.
When a man gets married, and leaves his father and mother, he founds his own household; but that household is within the household of his father. In his own house, he has relative autonomy… as long as his foolish choices don’t have an impact on his father’s house, making his father’s name stink (Genesis 34:30).
If his decisions are likely to have a negative impact on the name of his father, his father has every right to step in and defend his own name (Ezekiel 20:9). If the son doesn’t like that, his option is to leave the house and use HIS own name (Ezekiel 20:39). Just as we would do with a rebellious child today.
Another example is Luke 15:11-32 particularly Luke 15:29. This son wanted to take his inheritance and go live his own life; which was his right, just as God offered the Israelites the option to “go ye, serve ye every one his idols… if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more”.
If a man chooses to take his father’s name, he is, by definition, in his father’s house and subject to his authority in all matters that affect that name… because it’s not HIS name! And the very fact that he is IN his father’s house means his actions will affect his father – meaning his father should have control over them.
Young people are supposed to be in their parent’s house until they can choose for themselves good and evil; and while they live with their parents, their parents take responsibility for their actions – and, in return, expect obedience from them. They are, as the good son said, servants of their parents.
This, as always, is proven by the golden rule; for every parent to this day says “as long as you’re in MY house, you’ll live by MY rules, because what you do reflects on ME”.
THE HEAD OF YOUR HOUSE
The authority of the son, no matter how great he becomes, will always be subject to his father – which we can prove through Hebrews 3:1-6, and 1 Corinthians 15:27-28. Provided, of course, he remains in his father’s house and uses his father’s name.
Jacob was the head of his own house; but since he was Isaac’s heir and thus part of his house, Jacob’s head was Isaac; likewise the head of Isaac was Abraham, who commanded all his children after him (Genesis 18:19). But the head of Abraham was not Terah!
While Abram had been in his father’s house, he was subject to his father’s commandments, as the non-prodigal son was. But since Abram’s father Terah was an idol worshipper, God couldn’t work with Abram if he stayed there (Joshua 24:2).
So he had to leave, to start his own more righteous house in his own name. And by paying Melchizedek tithes, Abram acknowledged Melchizedek as his new father-figure! (Hebrews 7:1-7). Who in return blessed him, and later, as the Lord of the OT, gave him a new name… Abraham! (Genesis 17:1-5).
Terah was unworthy, so Abram had to leave the house of his father, breaking out from under his authority to build a NEW house in GOD’S NAME! Just as the prodigal son did, only Abram did it on principle, not out of pride or selfishness; which is why the head of Abraham was GOD!
And yet it would be wrong to say that Jacob’s head was God, because Jacob was within the house of Abraham; Jacob’s knowledge of God, and the opportunity to talk to God, only existed because of Abraham’s faith.
So while his ancestors lived, remained righteous, and he remained an heir of their house, his head was first Isaac, then Abraham, then God. Yet that doesn’t mean Jacob couldn’t interact with God on his own; do you have to talk to your grandparents through your parents? Can’t you talk to them directly?
But, generally speaking, your parents are going to be more involved in your life than your grandparents. Although you might well have a closer relationship with God than your parents do, for don’t you sometimes get along better with your granddad than your father does?
See how much sense that makes? Because this is how houses work; this is how they have always worked! And we’ve always known this!
GROWING UP
It is right and proper that children grow up and leave the nest (Genesis 2:24). But it is best for the children if that happens when they’re grown up – not when they’re thirteen, rebellious, and stupid. As soon as they pass the toddler stage, they should be given greater independence and autonomy as they show themselves worthy of it.
Remember, the scripture cannot be broken; and the patterns of God are thought through to the end. Which means that if you are begotten again as a Christian in the house of God, your new life begins there. Which means that when you’ve been a disciple for 4 years, you’re four years old. Again – obvious, self-evident.
Remember the paradigm we’re building; what you thought a church was, is in fact a family of ekklesia members, with elders and youngers. And within that new house, it will take a long time before you are no longer a novice, and can be trusted to choose the right fruit for yourself (1 Timothy 3:6).
Jesus spent four years with the disciples, and even after that, they were still 4-year-old-stupid some days (Acts 1:6, Mark 8:17, 16:14, etc.). Why would you expect it to be any different? Do you think you can learn about God one day, and become a father of your own house the next? Is that how ANY house works?
Read Matthew 18:1-6. Think about what this is saying; people get a lot of interpretations out of this passage about changing your heart, and humility, and all that; which is true enough. But let’s back up and look at the fact that Jesus told them they had to become as children.
Note that word “as”: they had to become exactly like little children –who have a conception, a birth, a toddler stage, a curiosity stage, an awkward stage, a rebellious, impatient, horny stage, and finally something approaching maturity (ha!) –a process that takes 20 years in God’s system.
When the children reach the age of 20, they are theoretically grown up enough to make their own decisions (Deuteronomy 1:39, Numbers 14:29-31). By that time, like real children, they will already be chafing to try their hand at building their own house (Genesis 30:30, 31:41). As I said – horny.
Growing up takes time, and every child can’t wait to be an adult, thinks they’re “never” going to grow up, it’s going to take “forever”… then as soon as they are adults, they spend the rest of their life wishing they were kids again.
Now there might be exceptions to this time scale, as there are with human children (runaways, orphans, and so on) but the patterns themselves cannot be broken. But as long as this time might seem, I’ve seen the pattern hold true in myself and many others.
It takes TIME to learn the things in these lessons (and the vastly greater number of things not in these lessons); it takes far more time to practice them, exercise them, internalize them, make them part of your heart and spirit. Even more time, before you can coherently explain them to a newborn.
Jesus was 30 before He started gathering disciples (Luke 3:23), yet had been learning this business for at LEAST 18 years (Luke 2:46-49). So until you’re AT LEAST 20, you will not be ready to be master of your own house, surrogate father to the sons God might give you.
Because to start your own house, you must have mastered your craft; you must be an elder. Said differently, you must be an apprentice-servant-minister-disciple for seven years. At which point, you’re ipso-facto seven years old “in the faith”.
At that point you’ve fulfilled your bond and are ready to become a journeyman; capable of being given some measure of autonomy, as a messenger and teacher and babysitter to your younger brothers and sisters.
Your first seven years of service paid for your own skill; the right to be a journeyman. If you want more from your master, such as his daughter, you would need to serve another seven years, as Jacob did. Because after acquiring the basic skills to build a house, you next need the materials –and a wife is the first piece of the puzzle.
If you then want more than that, if you want to build an inheritance with your master, to earn a piece of his business, you would work another seven years. At this point, you would probably be nearly as qualified as your own master was when you began your apprenticeship under him.
Remembering that the seventh year is the year of release, these three sets of seven years would conclude on the 20th year. So you will have spent 20 years in the house of your master before you yourself will have mastered your craft, and be ready for apprentices of your own.
Which is why the youngest age God considers capable of “knowing good and evil” is 20 years in your father’s house! (Numbers 14:29-31). The time that is required for you to master your father’s craft of living your life, and be considered legally an adult!
Which is to say, the time required before God considers you capable of choosing the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil for yourself. After all… how can you be responsible to choose the fruit for your children… if you aren’t old enough to choose it yourself?
Only after you can choose for yourself good and evil can you even consider having a house of your own, even within your father’s house. Until then, like Adam and Eve, you need supervision. Meanwhile, enjoy your childhood; learn everything you can the easy way, from your parents (Hebrews 13:17).
Leave as little as possible to be learned the hard way later, when you have your own house. Because, regardless of what an eight-year-old thinks, you will grow up. Tomorrow comes. But believing that requires a soul (Luke 21:19); and ironically, that means the more impatient you are to be mature, the less mature you are.
EMPTY NESTS
Contrary to how nearly everyone in the world views it, children growing up enough to build their own house and leave home is the GOAL of parents, not the inevitable curse of children growing old and forgetting about you (Mark 10:7).
As a parent, you should WANT your children to be too busy creating and learning and leading their own families to waste time hanging out with you… because you should ALSO be busy creating and leading and learning on your own! Good parents/teachers/masters want their children to not only not need them… but to grow beyond them! (John 14:12).
Which is why parents shouldn’t meddle in their grown children’s lives unless their children’s mistakes really need dealt with. Unless they threaten the house, or their father’s name. Their goal should be for every child to become to the head of his own house (Hebrews 5:11-14).
These Hebrews were old enough to have children of their own, disciples of their own, yet they still needed to be told things two year old disciples knew! This was frustrating to Paul, like it would be to any millennial’s parent, because part of the point of raising children was to relieve your own soul of the burden of judging others (Proverbs 29:17).
So when Paul sent Timothy off to lead Ephesus, not only was Timothy taking a burden off of Paul; not only was he helping the Ephesians; he was also learning how to make good choices as a leader while still under the authority of Paul, who could still fix any major mistakes he might make!
But grandparents shouldn’t have to change diapers anymore. They shouldn’t have to teach a toddler to rule his beast; his parents should be well able to handle that (Exodus 18:22). The grandparent’s job is to lead all the houses their children build, and to solve only the biggest problems their heirs can’t yet solve (Job 1:5).
They should busy themselves solving the hard problems that only they, with their decades greater experience, can solve. Their job should not be to create new children, but to gather wisdom to solve problems their children cannot.
Wisdom to bind the house together, which they can bequeath to their heirs who are busily creating new children of their own (Job 12:12-13). Which is why grandparents should glory in their age (Proverbs 16:31, 20:29).
Which, in turn, is why God commanded you to listen to them (Leviticus 19:32). Because their wisdom should help their children obey God better (Psalms 34:11-12). Enabling their children to have bigger and better houses than they themselves had!
LEAVING HOME
Houses are founded in many ways; sometimes a son just grows up and finds there are no opportunities at home, or at least, no opportunities that appeal to him, so he goes to another land (Luke 15:11-24). This son left his father’s house, left his inheritance, founding his own house but giving up the right to be called his son, as if he were dead!
And as it always has been in such cases, if a young man decides to leave home, go west and build his fortune, he’s on his own; that’s what this means. He might get killed; he might go broke. Then again, he might get rich and have a country named after him. He might die childless, or he might become the Smith or Miller of his time.
If he fails, and decides to crawl back home, while his father may overjoyed to see him, and might restore his name by grace, his inheritance will be gone forever (Luke 15:25-32). He will be starting over as a hired servant (Proverbs 11:29).
Very few emancipated teenagers wouldn’t be better off humbling themselves for a few more years; because they’re gambling they can choose the fruits of the tree better than their father chose them; and in some cases, the teenager is right.
But leaving your house is a big deal; it means declaring, often unilaterally, that you are old enough to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil on your own. And as history has shown, this ends very badly more often than not (Luke 14:28-30).
Assuming he successfully builds a house, how long it stands depends on his choices (Matthew 7:15-27). How they choose the foundation upon which they build will determine whether it’s a worthy house, or one that will fall when the winds blow upon it.
If they build well, their house will stand for centuries; if they build foolishly, their house will splinter in decades (Proverbs 28:2). A divided house with many rulers is the result of the sin of a people; but a man who commands his family after him will be able to prolong the unity of his house.
So the better the father/apostle/king/judge/elder/etc. does his job, the less need there will be for division of his house, and the longer it will exist as a single entity… with all his children honoring his name which binds them together as a house!
THE FOUNDATION OF A HOUSE
When a young man feels like it’s time to settle down, time to build a house, what is his first priority? What is the first step in building a house? There are a lot of answers you might give; buying land, going to college, getting a good job.
And these are all wrong; wrong because you still think of “house” as, well, a house. But you don’t need ANY of those things to found a Biblical house; poor people, landless people, uneducated people, can still have enormous houses. Look at India, for instance.
So to start a house, you need the one thing the young man has been looking for from the beginning: a womb. Notice I said “womb”, not wife; because it’s not a wife he instinctively wants –it’s her baby-making device.
His instinctive programming doesn’t want her to be his partner in life, he doesn’t want a soulmate, he wants her to make babies in his image. So that he can, in turn, make them after his likeness. And these are two separate processes… and he only needs a woman for one of them.
After birth, what does a mother do? She feeds her children daily; sees to their needs; teaches them basic skills and corrects their more minor sins; leaving their father free to make a living, provide the food she prepares, build the actual house, and have more children, perhaps even by other wives, as Jacob and David did, for example.
Said differently, a woman’s job is to raise the children; and a man can do that as well as a woman. Thus when Moses needed someone to do the daily maintenance of God’s house, he didn’t need a woman; Aaron could do all those things a woman would ordinarily do in a house.
Thus making him metaphorically a woman… because on a grand scale he did a job that, in a typical house, a woman would do. Leaving Moses free to judge the children, and spread his seed among them, increasing the size of the family.
And yet in the spiritual sense of a house, that first step has already been done; one does not have to have children, to have children; Galatians 4:27; which Paul made clear, was specifically talking about us (Galatians 4:28).
So when we build a spiritual house, we are sent to reap the children that another man sowed (John 4:38). Which means one does not need a wife, to have children. Because the hard part –the woman-specific part –has already been done before we find these spiritual children (John 6:44-45)!
APPOINTING MOTHERS
The apostles’ job was to preach the gospel; if they had let themselves get bogged down in the “daily ministration”, it would have been a colossal waste of their time. So they delegated ministers to provide for the needs of the people in their stead (Acts 6:1-4)… which is precisely what a mother does in a typical house!
Likewise Paul could have stayed in, say, Corinth for his entire life. He could have fed the flock, raised them, and no doubt done a better job than the people who wound up doing it in his absence. Paul could not have spread the gospel in every corner of the Roman Empire if he had been a stay-at-home dad!
We wouldn’t have the book of Romans, or Ephesians, or most of Acts for that matter. Because being a homemaker wasn’t Paul’s job! (1 Corinthians 1:17). It would have been a waste of his prodigious talents. Far better to appoint mother-figures in his absence to lead the local ekklesia at all times; just as Aaron did.
This is why Paul said HE planted. He planted seed; he conceived the children. Apollos then “watered them”, providing them with his spirit on a daily basis like a mother would do (1 Corinthians 3:4-6). So saying you’re the son of your mother, but not of your father, is ridiculous. Particularly when both of them were sent by your grandfather to do the same job!
Yet obviously, these mother-figures were males; because these roles have nothing to do with gender, but with the patterns of authority you’ve learned so many times; a soul shouldn’t make every decision for the beast. He should delegate that responsibility to his spirit.
And in a typical family, a man’s external spirit is his wife. The role has nothing to do with gender, except that gender roles illustrate the pattern for us so that we are all “without excuse” for not understanding these things.
If she, in turn, delegates the responsibility of babysitting to the older children, then they are her spirits, her delegates over the younger beasts, carrying her authority which she received from her husband. Which he received from Jesus. Which He received from God.
Every one of these people is a part of the chain of authority; and how a given individual appears depends on whether you’re looking up at them, or looking down at them. Because as you learned in Lesson 7-11, one man’s soul is another man’s spirit and yet another man’s beast.
Thus, Aaron was the head of the woman (priesthood of Israel). Even though Aaron was not a woman; Just as Jesus is the head of the female church, yet still a man; which is how Jesus can be the Son of man, and yet also treat Jerusalem like a mother HEN raising her chicks! (Luke 13:34).
He is head of the woman, because the Father sent Him to lead her in His absence! (Matthew 21:33-37). Thus, Jesus is our head but God’s spirit. And Apollos was the head of the Corinthians, but Paul’s minister. Just as Joshua was head of Ephraim, yet servant of Moses –and later head of Israel.
Because every home needs a father and a mother; and every house of God needs a soul and a spirit. A king and a priest; an apostle and an elder, a bishop and his minister, an evangelist and a bishop. The head of the house and his heir-in-training!
ELDERS
There are a lot of jobs and ministries and so on; and who appointed somebody, why, and for how long might change the name they use for the job; but remember: the pattern cannot be broken. And in every house there must be two fundamental roles; the father and the mother.
Read Acts 15:2-6, and particularly Acts 15:22-23. At Jerusalem, there were three types of people; apostles, elders, and brethren. Even among the Jews, there were the “chief priests” and the “elders”, and “the people” (Acts 23:14, Luke 23:13).
Likewise, when Paul spoke to Timothy or the Philippians, Paul mentioned two types of people; bishops and their ministers (Philippians 1:1, 1 Timothy 3, remember, deacon=minister). If the ekklesia is a house of God, and an apostle is the father, and the group itself is the daughter, then someone must be in the role of a mother –in this case, the elder.
Now consider Titus 1:5. What does it mean to ordain elders? In today’s churches, elders are generally old men who either weren’t smart enough to become ministers or didn’t suck up to the right people. But if that’s not the right paradigm (and how could it be?), what are they?
Remember: go back to the simple metaphor: if the head of a house appoints an elder over his other children, what is he doing? He is appointing a babysitter! The same child you, yourself, always ordain over his siblings in your own absence! (Acts 14:21-23).
Compare to 1 Corinthians 16:15-19; why was Paul telling the Corinthians and Romans the names of these worthy houses? In his role as the head of the house of the Gentiles, he was pointing out worthy houses, the houses of his children who had grown faster or been in the truth longer, those who had his trust because they acted older than their siblings! Thus… ELDERS!
But it’s more than that; by declaring one of your children an elder, you are declaring him an adult; and an adult is ready to have children of his own and a house of his own! And by instructing the other brethren to “submit yourselves unto such”, Paul was personally approving which of his children were old enough to teach new disciples! Thus… the elders!
FORGET TITLES
This seems very tidy, and yet at other times, the Bible seems to have confused elders with bishops, and even apostles (Titus 1:7, 1 Peter 5:1). Why? Because these were jobs, not titles; relative roles in a house, not permanent marks of authority!
Timothy was an evangelist, literally “good news messenger” of Paul (2 Timothy 4:5). But remember: this is not a church. Sick of me saying that yet? God is not big on titles (Job 32:21-22, Psalms 12:2-3).
We are not measured by titles but by the jobs we do, and how well we do them. So “evangelist” is not a fancy title, not a way of measuring ourselves against each other. It was just a job that the head of the house needed done (Matthew 10:1, 7), a job he would do himself if necessary (Matthew 4:17).
Certainly, there is a fine line between a title and a job; for the guy who does the job is often identified as the doer of the job. But thanks to thousands of years of Babylonian conditioning, we think of Apostle as a thing that is so much more than the job.
If a man says “I’m an apostle!” that sounds impressive (and pompous with a touch of megalomania). But if he says “I was sent”, it sounds kinda boring, right? Exactly. Try it in 1 Corinthians 9:1-2, Galatians 1:1, etc. See how it works… and yet, see how hard it is for us to read it this way? “Thanks, bad paradigm!”
Is a plumber always a plumber? Even if he loses his license, goes to jail, or becomes an electrician instead? Of course not; because a man is not the job he does. He is just a man, son of some other man. That’s what he IS. These other things are jobs he did from time to time, but not titles or identities!
This is why Jesus is an apostle, high priest, that prophet, a master, teacher, lord, bishop, and so on. This is why Saul prophesied, though he wasn’t a prophet (1 Samuel 10:11-11); why Philip was an evangelist and also a deacon (Acts 6:5, 21:8), why apostles were also preachers of the gospel (and thus evangelists), and so on.
Now read Philippians 2:25. See that word “your messenger”? That’s the identical Greek word as “the apostle Paul”! But since Epaphroditus wasn’t one of “the” apostles, the translators deliberately mistranslated the word as “messenger” because it didn’t fit their paradigm!
Likewise in 2 Corinthians 8:23, “our brethren the messengers” should read “our brethren the apostles”… except it’s obvious, from context ( 2 Corinthians 8:18,22), that Paul is talking about his traveling party which he was sending to them, not the twelve… so once again, the translators chose their paradigm over the truth.
So when you see 1 Corinthians 12:28, Ephesians 4:11, and so on, the lists don’t agree on hierarchy because, except for the first two, there is no hierarchy intended because these aren’t military ranks! Remember Mark 10:42-43?
Sometimes a group needed a leader, to gather scattered and struggling houses into his own; sometimes they needed an evangelist or a teacher, to inspire them to start their own houses; and sometimes a prophet, to tell them their house was in grave danger and to get their act together (prophets, by their nature, rarely bring good news).
But anyone qualified could do ANY of these jobs, if, as, and when needed to build, enlarge, support, and maintain the house of God. But the man was never the job, and the title was never a rank. The only thing that actually confers rank is spiritual age –and that, only if it is accompanied by the wisdom, understanding, and knowledge that it should accompany it (Job 32:5-9).
BISHOPS
The only title that really has any weight is elder (1 Peter 5:5); but this term, by its very nature, is relative; for one man’s “elder” is another man’s “younger”. Again, I can’t stress enough, it works just like literally every family does – in your absence, your 13-year-old outranks your 10-year-old.
And yet clearly, there is a basic minimum of elderness that’s necessary to carry any real authority. While your 7-year old can watch your 2-year old, he cannot do so without himself having some supervision.
While your 14-year old would do better, you still wouldn’t really trust him to solve all the problems that might come up – nor, necessarily, to behave himself. So while you might leave him alone for awhile, you would certainly keep your phone handy. This is what Paul meant in 1 Timothy 3:6.
So all NC authority is basically a form of babysitting; of “playing house” with someone else’s children until they return. Practicing on them as a way of preparing for the time, in the far distant future, when you will be qualified to have your own sons, in your own name.
Thus, elders are the heads of ecclesiastic families of disciples. Now another name for the same job is “bishop”. The word translated “bishop” is the Greek “episcope” (think “Episcopal”), and literally means “inspection”, and by extension “overseer” – a person charged with the inspection of something.
Obviously, from the context of passages like 1 Timothy 3:1-2, a bishop is the overseer of a group of ekklesia (remember, not a church; you’re probably tired of hearing that, but it’s worth repeating a lot).
Thus, a bishop performs the role of a soul; the father-figure who performs the role of Abraham in the local ekklesia-family.
Now one symbol of these families or houses is sheep (Ezekiel 34:30-31); so as the overseer of the sheep, “bishop” is thus synonymous with pastor or shepherd (1 Peter 2:25). Which is the same job as any babysitter; to feed the kids and keep them from getting lost (Jeremiah 23:1-4).
Because, again, these aren’t separate titles, meant to form some quasi-military hierarchy of holiness! They are just different METAPHORS God gave us so that we could see, over and over again, from every conceivable angle, how His family is meant to function!
And those people who today call themselves Bishops, Pastors, Elders, and so on have failed miserably to feed His sheep (all of Ezekiel 34). Because they were, at best, hirelings… the sheep were not their own! (John 10:11-14). At worst, they were thieves ( John 10:10), trying to steal God’s sheep from His house and raise them in their own Church!
But if you are raising God’s disciples in God’s name in your own house, then the sheep would be yours… and you would care about them in a way a hireling never would. Because no man yet ever hated his own flesh… which is explicitly a metaphor of this exact thing! (Ephesians 5:29-31).
THE CHIEF SHEPHERD
Whatever role men may play in your upbringing, there is only one true shepherd, Jesus (John 10:16); yet with a large flock, it’s impossible for any one Being to manage them. So invariably, a shepherd will hire assistants. Or buy them; or better yet, apprentice them to shepherd in His name (1 Peter 5:1-4).
As I said above, chief shepherd isn’t a title, but a different metaphor meant to help us better understand how the house functions. Peter, in that passage, said he was an elder; and thus, in context, an “undershepherd”, or in modern English, an assistant shepherd. Just like David was Jesus’ undershepherd in Israel (Ezekiel 37:24).
Peter went on to address his comments to elders beneath him. So as you’d expect, this is just successive generations of houses of God. And as I said above, in each house, there will usually be an elder and his minister/assistant/heir. If not several (Exodus 24:5).
These ministers are their assistants; their metaphorical “work wives”, if you will. But when a bigger job needs done, a qualified elder maybe called to leave “home” for a longer and longer period of time; leaving his minister, who was himself spiritually elder than the rest of the local family, in charge of the maintenance and growth of his house.
And as with any house, these roles keep changing. Because aging is a process that doesn’t stop until you die; and as the oldest elders die, others replace them. When they replace them, their own vacancy is replaced by their own assistants – the ministers whom they appointed elders, and had been training for years for exactly this event.
Those elders in turn may be sent by God do so something, as in Acts 13:2; they naturally become apostles. And if, while doing that job, they need to preach the gospel, they are also evangelists; if they need to clean up a house, they may be bishops; if they need to assist a greater man than themselves, they gladly become his ministers.
How hard is that? Why complicate that? That’s why this is The Simple Answer.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Paul said that he did not build upon another man’s foundation; and yet, isn’t that exactly what he then commanded us to do? 1 Corinthians 3:10-11. Isn’t that exactly what Timothy did, build upon the foundation of Paul? 2 Timothy 2:2. We are MEANT to build upon the foundations of our elders (Ephesians 2:19-22).
We are not Jesus, we are not even Abraham or Paul; we could not build the foundation of our own house, so obviously we could not hope to build the foundation of God’s house. But those foundation stones have already been laid; we have the words of Abraham, of David, of Elihu and Daniel. We just need to build upon them.
All of us were sent to reap where other men sowed, in every sense of the word, benefitting from their labors (John 4:38). Other parents labored and gave birth, and their children were adopted by the apostles in God’s name.
Other men dug truth out of the Bible, which I built upon. Which you, in turn, should build upon once you master this craft. Once someone gives you a house to build in your own name. But who would do that? And why? Luke 16:12.
Think about that verse. Isn’t it strange? When you think about it, it’s precisely the opposite of what makes sense to us today. What we would say, today, is “if you haven’t taken care of your OWN stuff, why would I let you take care of mine??”
But that’s not what Jesus said; He said the exact opposite, in fact; that if you haven’t taken care of MY stuff, why would I give you YOUR OWN? Because Jesus was speaking about houses, and we always thought He was talking about Churches!
This man was the STEWARD –minister –of His lord. And if, while under His lord’s authority and supervision, He had not been competent; why would His lord appoint Him to be an elder over His own house?? (1 Corinthians 4:2).
Why would the master give his bumbling apprentice a business of his own, when he can’t even drive a nail correctly in his master’s house? So you must be faithful, as Moses was, in God’s house before you ever have your own house (Hebrews 3:2-5).
And Joshua must be faithful in Moses’ house, before Moses ever gives him his own house. And so before the Lord will help you build your own house, God must see how well you can be faithful in the house of another man.
The one verse for this lesson is Ecclesiastes 12:11-12. This verse is very hard to translate, but the term “masters of assemblies” is generally believed by commentators to refer to the “undershepherds” of Jesus mentioned in 1 Peter 5.
Ecclesiastes 12:11-12 The words of the wise are as goads [spurs], and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies [undershepherds], which are given from one shepherd [Jesus]. And further, by these [undershepherds], my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
Now think about that term “masters of assemblies”. What is a master? The head of a disciple; and what does an assembly mean? His house! And what binds a house together, if not… nails! The words of the wise!
If you’ll recall back in Lesson 8-6, I said that no written words, not even the words of God, are capable of changing your heart because the words are frozen spirit. Studying those words, while absolutely beneficial, is not likely to change your fundamental nature… because those dead words don’t know precisely what your nature is!
They might change your spirit, but they can’t know your exact sins, so they really can’t change your flesh, which makes them… a weariness of flesh!
GWV translates the first part of verse 11 “Words from wise people are like spurs”. The words of LIVING wise men are like the whip used to prod cattle along, because they can see the desperately wicked heart and correct the precise sins the beast commits in specific terms –not vague, general terms, which is the best any book can do.
So Solomon counselled his son to be corrected in person by these wise undershepherds of Jesus… because there was only so much he could ever accomplish by studying books and Bible lessons of which there are no end!