ROUTINE

 

Hi all,

Wherever I travel to house churches I always receive questions that inevitably lead me back to the church at Corinth for answers.

The mix

Acts 18 tells us people from 3 cultures were thrown together in the house of Justus: Roman, Jewish, Greek - each of whom did not normally mix. That means they were violating every social custom they were raised with, yet they gathered initially in the Roman house of Justus to worship and learn of the Lord.

The same type of thing is true of house churches today: People coming to house church from various backgrounds, nationalities, and religious practices, not to mention socioeconomic differences all thrown together for home based meetings.

We know Corinth had major issues as a result, as seen in Paul's first letter to them - strife in chapter 3, two brothers suing one another in chapter 6, some were eating meat sacrificed to idols because they thought it ok to do, while others disagreed in chapters 8 & 10, wives taking their veils off which in that culture dishonored their husbands and the rich refusing to eat with the poor in chapter 11, and so on.

A revelation to one is not...

The kingdom works by revelation, but a revelation to a Jewish person that they could eat lobster at house church if they wanted, would mean nothing to their Roman or Greek brethren, and maybe their revelation would even offend fellow Jewish believers who weren't ready to eat shellfish!

But sometimes a personal revelation hits with such force that the person thinks EVERYONE should hear about it and then do it.

Moses had this issue as stated in Acts 7:25 when he killed the Egyptian for 'he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them from the Egyptians, but they understood not.'

Most Christians probably think Moses received the revelation he was God's deliverer at the burning bush, but in fact he had that revelation 40 years earlier while still in Egypt. His mistake was assuming the revelation God had shown him, He had also shown to 'his brethren', and that they would be just as thrilled as he was!

That mistake cost him 40 years, or 1/3 of his life, for he was trying to do God's will in his flesh. Some 40 years later he learned by revelation God would deliver them by His hand, not Moses' citing a civil war in Egypt by his hand. God gets the glory after all, not man.

Back to Corinth

What I have seen from nation to nation, culture to culture in my travels these last 11 years, is that Moses' misstep is relatively common in house churches. Like the hypothetical situation of a Jewish person receiving the revelation that he can eat lobster, but it would mean nothing to the Roman or Greek believers present who had eaten shellfish all their lives, so too do house church people assume similar things.

In the early years of CWOWI I'd hear of people who received revelation about celebrating the Lord's Supper and how it was to be. Based on their revelation they wanted to put that revelation on everyone else, becoming a point of contention with the rest of the house church.

How do you celebrate it?

Soon I heard people saying you had to use real wine, others said it had to be part of a regular meal as Jesus did, and some said it had to be celebrated every week, some said it had to be home made unleavened bread.

When I'd ask people about the how and why, they would most often say, 'The Lord showed me...' or 'I did it this way by myself for a time and it blessed me so much, I just know if we all did it this way everyone would be blessed like I was...' or other words that revealed they thought their revelation should be practiced by everyone else. And to do otherwise was wrong.

But they were assuming their brethren would have understood how God by their hand would teach them the 'right way' to celebrate the Lord's Supper, but they understood not. lol.

That's one example - I could share many examples of things that started out as a true revelation, but somehow became fixed in stone that it had to be 'this way'. Like any revelation or move of the Spirit we can examine down through history, someone's freeing move of the Spirit based on revelation gradually becomes rigid and a tradition and expectation on others to follow. Many denominations started this way.

Reality

The truth is, the New Testament is purposely (I believe) vague about how to 'do' house church. The basics are there - rotate homes and rotate who leads weekly, discussion oriented, all may participate, love and courtesy guide all things - but beyond that nothing is set in stone because revelation to one is meant to bless others, but not necessarily intended to be revelation for all.

So those with revelation feeling God is leading them to do say, the Lord's Supper as part of a larger meal - great, do it! Don't expect others to have that same revelation, and don't be disappointed by their juice and crackers that close the meeting next month - that is their revelation, and it isn't wrong, it's just not your revelation.

These types of things can include the order of a meeting, the kinds of food (if served), how and when prayer requests are received if at all, what kind of music there is (band, keyboard, cd, MP3, no music), if song sheets or overhead projection or nothing at all is used to provide words for people. How the Lord's Supper is celebrated, whether to follow a guided study or keep in line with I Corinthians 14:26, and so on.

The key is - look at your house church meeting. Has it become as rigid, inflexible and set on an agenda as x church you once attended?

Whoever is leading that week needs to take ownership of their meeting - and do what is on their heart - and the rest get over themselves, they can lead it how God leads them when they next lead.

Be ready to experience someone else's revelation.

The disclaimer

The disclaimer in this is of course any revelation someone claims they have will be in line with the Word and Spirit, and lead to peace - a revelation they say God showed them to have an affair, isn't a revelation from God. What I share isn't a license to do the weird, sinful, or unscriptural, for house church is about what we agree on, what we have in common, not a place to drum up support for the controversial topics out there.

My point is that one person's revelation may not be another's, so don't let your house church become as predictable at the sun's rising. Each person leading should have revelation from the Lord, felt in their spirit and what seems good to them as well, for that meeting, and the freedom to move in that revelation.

Serve some lobster if that's your revelation! And don't roll your eyes if it isn't, just say, "Pass the butter please." LOL.

    Some thoughts...blessings!

        John

www.cwowi.org and email at cwowi@aol.com