For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
When the proverb writer refers to “house” here, I do not believe he is referring to a building. Rather he is referring to a group of people who work together for the common good. In a way he is referring to a family business, except unlike what we normally think of, decisions are not made which are the “best for the business”, rather decisions are made about what is best for the “house” (that is, the people who make up the group). Such a group only comes into existence when wisdom is applied to its formation. It requires understanding and common sense for it to become established, and knowledge is necessary for it to thrive.
Let us praise God. His enemies may seem powerful, but He will bring them down. The rulers and nations of this earth may have declared war against God, but they will be bringing gifts and tribute to Him before the war is done. Let us praise God for His power. He will not win His victory with a mighty army. No, He will win with a crucified Son.
We have been called to humbly work together to be unified by the Spirit into the Body of Christ. As I wrote that I realized that it seems to say more than it does. Paul instructs us to be humble and gentle, to be patient with our fellow believers, making allowance for their flaws as we work together in love. I think the first place to start in understanding what Paul is telling us is with the word “love”. If we love someone we want what is best for them and act to bring the results which lead to their greatest happiness into being. Of course, this is where being humble and gentle come into play. We need to recognize that we may be mistaken about what is best for those we love.
In order to bring about the unity which Paul tells us we should strive for God has given the Church many gifts. In particular, He has given apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Actually, it is interesting that Paul divides these five into two groups. He puts apostles, prophets, and evangelists in one group and he puts pastors and teachers in another. From various things I have read, the first group represents those whose primary mission is to reach out to unbelievers, the second group has the primary mission of ministering to those who are already believers. This only represents their primary mission, not their entire purpose. All of us are called to one degree, or another, to minister both to believers and unbelievers.
Regardless of their primary mission, all of those with these gifts have the responsibility to equip God’s people to do God’s work and to build up the Church, the Body of Christ (and when Paul says this he is not referring to the organization, he is referring to the people who make up the Body of Christ). How do we know that they have been successful? When the Church, and its members, are not blown about by every new teaching which comes down the road. Paul warns us against lies which are so cleverly told that they sound like the truth. When confronted by such teachings let us speak truth in love. Again remembering to humbly acknowledge that we may not fully comprehend the truth. It is important to remember that while I may not be correct in my understanding about what is true, those who claim that there is, therefore, no truth are certainly incorrect. Let us remember that there is such a thing as absolute truth while humbly seeking to learn what that truth is. We will never fully comprehend God’s truth while we are in this world, but if we continue to seek God and allow Him to correct our mistakes, He will gradually reveal ever more of that truth to us.
I was struck by this statement which God declared through Isaiah: “I am the Lord, and there is NO other.” There is someone I speak with from time to time who was raised a Christian, and who still considers themselves a Christian. However, they worship as part of an inter-faith congregation (not an inter-denominational congregation, but an inter-faith one). They worship together with Wiccans, Buddhists, Hindus, and others who consider themselves Christians. Wiccans and Hindus worship beings other than God (whether the beings they worship are real or imaginary is a discussion for another place). Those who worship with them are not Christians. Those who believe that Paul’s call for unity means that we should be unified with those who worship gods other than God have misread Paul.
There is a couple of other statements made by God in this passage which I think we need to remember. “I publicly proclaim bold promises. I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner.” God does not make quiet little claims that can be easily overlooked and He does not call us to do so either. Let us publicly, boldly proclaim God’s promises, not whisper them obscurely in some dark corner. There may be those who will belittle us for doing so, but better that than for them to cry, “Why didn’t you tell me?” when God’s judgment is made. This passage also tells us that God would not have told people to seek Him if He could not be found. Let us seek the Lord and encourage others to do so as well. Those who genuinely seek God WILL find Him.