The Bible illustrates Christ’s churches in several ways, two of which are a body and a family. I expect that you are familiar with both, because they come up fairly frequently in our messages. But just to refresh your memory, Paul, in I Corinthians 12 spends time talking about the importance of a church as a body with hands, eyes, ears, feet and so on. “And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary…” “And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it.” Like the idea of a body, relationships within a church family should be obvious as members share meals and service together, and other things like growing and grieving together. Each member of a family is related to every other member of that family – sisters to uncles and nephews, etc. And of course the hand is related to the foot, because without the hand tying a shoe would be difficult.
A few months ago I was struck with a pair of words linked together with a tiny preposition. Later, I found a similar pair and then another. I started jotting them down and adding more and more to my list over time. Eventually, after cutting off those words which weren’t actually found in the Bible, I ended up with four. The Bible speaks of “strength to strength,” “faith to faith,” “glory to glory” and “house to house.” Looking them over the other day, the Holy Spirit brought me back to the idea of interconnection – like the parts of a body or the members of a family.
And as a result you have that silly little handout I’ve given you. For those who are watching online and can’t see what I’m talking about, I’ve distributed a piece of paper. On Side #1 there is the Greek letter omega in the middle of the sheet. I’d like that Omega to represent Christ Jesus, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end of everything. Then scattered around the page are various circles of differing sizes. The circles represent you and me. Notice that they have lines extending to the Omega, because Christians all have spiritual life “in Christ.”
Now turn it over to Side #2. Here you see the same Omega and circles, but there additional lines going to and from all the other circles – large and small. Not only are we tied to Christ as Christians, but we are also brethren within a church. We are not only related to the Lord by faith in Christ Jesus, but we are related to one another in a spectacular web. This evening I’d like to point to four Biblical ways in which we are interconnected with one another.
First of all, Paul speaks of once having a HOUSE TO HOUSE ministry in Ephesus.
Acts 20:17 – “And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church. And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews: And how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publickly, and from house to house, Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”
It was not Paul’s only method of evangelism, but a major part of his success in Ephesus was his house-to-house ministry. Much of it was visiting the homes of the saints, nevertheless there was still an emphasis on evangelism. “I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you… from house to house, Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” That church began with an aggressive door-to-door ministry, carried out by Paul – even if by no one else. And I believe that kind of ministry is still a Biblical method of church-building. Going door-to-door is hard, and it may not be as fruitful as we’d like it to be, but it is more fruitful than preaching to empty pews because no one has been invited to our church services. And among other blessings, that house-to-house ministry linked the homes where the Ephesian Christians resided. I am going to assume that Paul may have asked Jason to join him, and then Thomas and Epaphroditus. Over time, those three families were linked together this way – for the purpose of linking them to Christ.
There is a second reference to a house-to-house ministry which perhaps is more common. Acts 2:41 – “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers… And all that believed were together, and had all things common. And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” As that church – the first church of Christ in Jerusalem – began to grow in numbers and in faith, its members became more and more unlike the rest of the residents of Jerusalem. Their citizenship and interests were different from the rest of the Jews. They found it more and more important to draw strength from one another, not just in public worship but in their day-to-day lives. So the bond between households and families, out of necessity, grew and was strengthened. If one family, or one couple, flourished in the faith for a while, there were two others which were weak under the antagonism and growing persecution of their neighbors. They needed – really needed – the fellowship of other believers. Thus there was a need of an on-going house-to-house ministry.
And the purpose of that house-to-house ministry was to spread FAITH to FAITH.
Romans 1:14 – “ I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from FAITH to FAITH: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”
How do people see the righteousness of the Lord? Of course it has to come through what God has revealed to us in His Word. We are not going to see the righteousness of God, or any of His other precious attributes any other way. Not even the glories of nature are going to reveal the real character of God. And yet, with the Bible in front of us, it will not be solely through our intellect or the personal leadership of the Holy Spirit that we understand the Lord. The things of God are “spiritually discerned” and that demands the element of faith – trust in that Word.
Without denying that faith is the gift of God, still it is through the faith of others that we strengthen our faith. In other words, many of the things of God are become our faith through the ministry of another person’s faith. John Gill explains it this way – faith to faith, “that is, as say some, from the faith of God to the faith of men; from the faith of preachers to the faith of hearers; from the faith of the Old to the faith of the New Testament saints, or rather from one degree of faith to another. For faith, as it grows and increases, has clearer sights of this righteousness, as held forth in the Gospel”
Why did God give us Hebrews 11 if it was not to strengthen our faith by displaying the faith of others? And when that evangelist brought the gospel to you years ago, didn’t he say, “Put your faith in Christ?” He could say that with confidence, because he was sharing the faith he had tried and proved himself. Paul went from house to house with the gospel, sharing his faith with others. And ideally, MY faith today should strengthen YOU when you are overcome with doubt about some new thing in your life. And YOUR faith should strengthen ME in my time of need. And at the same time, three others linked to us should be strengthened in our interconnected relationships.
And speaking about “STRENGTH” we come back to Psalm 84.
Verse 5 – “Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.”
Exquisitely blessed is that person who draws strength for his day-to-day life directly from the Lord. He doesn’t have to listen to CNN to find comfort and encouragement. He doesn’t have to draw strength from the President’s address to Congress. He doesn’t rely on the doctor’s report or the recent trends of the Dow Jones. “O Lord of hosts, BLESSED is the man that trusteth in THEE” – verse 12. That Christian’s heart is trusting in, and surrendered to, the ways of the Lord – verse 5.
And that is particularly important when he is passing through “the valley of Baca.” The Hebrew word “Baca” refers to “tears.“ That valley could be any number of situations which bring tears to our eyes. For example it couple be the valley of the shadow of death. But the strengthened Christian has no fear of the evil in that valley, for he knows that the Good Shepherd is with him, bringing with Him His comforting rod and staff. And, working with the Lord, that pilgrim, while still in the valley, has an opportunity to dig a few wells in the valley floor for the blessing of others – verse 6. They go from STRENGTH to STRENGTH, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.”
There are a couple ways to look at this going from ”strength to strength.” The Hebrew word is used about 250 times, but only 12 times is it translated “strength.” Of course I wouldn’t consider changing it here in this verse. But here it gets interesting – almost as often as that word is translated “strength,” it is translated “wealth.” We might say that the strength we have in the Lord – the strength we have because our faith is firmly grasping the almighty God – is extremely valuable. The ability to trust God to carry us through whatever the President might bring down upon us, is wealth that most of our neighbors do not possess. The ability to draw our strength from the Lord, even if the economy implodes, makes us wealthier than the rich man who lives down the street.
But here is something else – by far the most common way the word “strength” is translated is “army” or “host.” And this brings me back to the general purpose of this message. You are a part of an army; you are a member of a church. Your strength and your armor, are linked to the person next to you. And together, two can defeat five of the devil’s soldiers, and ten can stand against a hundred of the enemy. Christians who are outside one of God’s churches do not have this blessing.
House to house leads to faith to faith which progresses to strength unto strength.
And there is one more of these Biblical connections – GLORY to GLORY.
II Corinthians 3:17 – “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” In the context, Paul describes the average Jew with his veneration of Abraham and Moses, but not Jesus. Because that Jewish man has no faith in Christ, he has a veil over his face, and his mind is blinded. But as believers, we have access to the very throne and glory of the Lord through the Lord Jesus. And, you and I, connected to one another as we are, have the opportunity and privilege to talk about our experiences in the Valley of Baca, and we can share our progress as pilgrims. We can hold up the mirror of God’s Word together and in the process be changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Do remember when Moses came down from Sinai with the two tables of the law, after spending forty days with the Lord? Oh, how blessed he was; how filled with the Word and filled with the Spirit. Because of the very nature of those blessing, he had no idea that his face radiated the glory of God. When Aaron and the people saw that “the skin of his face shone… they were afraid to come nigh him.” This prompted Moses to put a veil over his face. Did God command him to cover the glory which He had given him? Not that I could find. What if he had left the veil off, permitting Aaron, Joshua and others to see the glory of God which he carried? I have no authority to say so, but isn’t it possible that others might have picked up that glory as well? Isn’t it possible that in the display of God’s glory, others might have been blessed with the spread of glory to glory?
History has proven this sort of thing many times. For example, when one young man experiences a revival of the power and glory of the Holy Spirit, sharing it first with other young people and then with some of the older saints, whole churches can be set on spiritual fire. When the glory of God is displayed, and God’s people aren’t afraid of it, it can spread – it does spread. But where that interconnection is broken – when that one person who is filled with God’s glory is cut off – or when he is veiled – the glory doesn’t spread, and others aren’t blessed.
This is where the interconnection between us all is supposed to end – not in disconnection – but glory. House to house, faith to faith, strength to strength is designed to end in glory to glory – God’s glory to us, and our glorying to God’s glorification. Instead of little, faint lines between each of us, there needs to be solid unbreakable lines. And each of the little circles in my illustration should be growing and drawing closer to Christ, as our arms are around the shoulders of our neighbors. And with those blessings on us, other circles will want to join our circles, as house to house leads to faith to faith and strength to strength until there is unending glory to glory.