1 Timothy 3:14-16

"14. I write these things hoping to come to you quickly; 15. but if I delay, so that you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God." Who is Paul to tell Timothy how he should act? But Timothy and Paul had a special kind of relationship. Timothy was a young man appointed to pastor a church. A young man placed in charge of leading a group of people in being faithful to God. Does that situation sound familiar? Paul on the other hand was an old man with much experience. In many ways Paul was like a spiritual father to Timothy He even called Timothy his "beloved child." Paul was also the one who had ordained Timothy and sent him to the church he was pastoring. In a way Paul was like Timothy's bishop with a duty to direct him. So Paul wrote Timothy, this young pastor, a letter telling him how he should act in the Household of God.

Now let me got one thing straight. Paul was not writing Timothy to tell his not to wear his pajamas in the sanctuary or chew tobacco in the choir room. When Paul wrote "household of God" he was not referring to the place where people of God meet to worship but to the people themselves. Paul was telling him how one ought to act not just in the church building but among the church people. After all the building is just a place for the people to meet and worship God.

The church is described in a lot of ways in the Bible. It is called the Body of Christ for instance, But the term which Paul uses here, "household," is important. The church is not just a club or a mutual aid organization. It is a family with God as our Father and Christ as our Brother.

One thing I have learned through being married to Melissa and as my own family has grown is that each family is different. My family is small and scattered all over the place. I have aunts and uncles and cousins from La Paz Mexico to New Jersey. As a result sometimes we don't see each other for years at a time and we only write once in a while. Melissa's family on the other hand is large and is concentrated in the piedmont area of South Carolina and north Georgia. They are always seeing each other. Before Mary was born, I was the last baby born in my immediate family. Melissa on the other hand is always having babies born in her family.

Families are different in other ways too. I remember when I was little there were times that I wanted to do things or wanted things or didn't want to do things that my parents thought I should do. I would say, "But other people do that." But Joey has a bee bee gun. But Mike has a motor scooter. But Dad, Kevin gets to stay up late on Saturday night. But Mom, Janie doesn't have to go to church every Sunday morning." And sure enough as the sun rises one of may parents would say, "That's other people. We're different."

Every family has certain guidelines of operation. Some call them "house rules." In some families everyone takes their plates to the sink after dinner. In some families the woman of the house handles all the finances. Those "house rules," whether they are spoken or not, govern relationships in that family. They also make it different from all other families. The house rules proclaim, "That may be O.K. for other households, but this family is different!"

Paul wrote to Timothy to tell him what the house rules were for the "household of God, which is the congregation of the living God, the pillar and bulwark of the truth." The Church is a household or a family with God as our father.(We have already discussed that.) But the church is different from all the other households of this world. How is it different? Paul said it is the congregation of the living God. It is the bulwark, the structure, of truth. This family is a living embodiment of the grace of the living God as expressed in the Gift and person of Jesus Christ.

Since the household of God is so different from the households of this world, it has its own house rules. We do things differently in the church than in the households of the world. In some of the world's households the rule is "look out for number one." Other houses of this world rely on the rule of economic advantage - "What is the cost and the profit which can be made?" Some houses of the world rely on the rule of "if it feels good do it." The household of God has different rules and that makes it different, set apart, from the houses of the world. Those are other houses. We are different.

Too often we in the church confuse the house rules of the houses of the world with the house rules of the family of God. Sometimes we involve ourselves in the dealing of the households of this world and try to import their ways to doing things into the church. We try to look out for number one or use the rule of economic advantage in the Church. But the rules are different here because we are the household of God the congregation of the living God and the Bulwark of truth.

Which brings us to a very important question. What are the house rules for the family of God? It would take too long for me to describe how a Christian should act in every situation. In Paul's two letters to his beloved son Timothy he only scratched the surface. But in our lesson today Paul reveals to us the principle which lies behind the proper conduct of the people of God in the Household of God. He writes: "16. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of our religion: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory."

This poem which Paul quotes is basically a description of who Christ was and what he did. The guiding principle for proper conduct in the household of God is Jesus Christ. If you will look at the historic creeds of the church in the back of our hymnal at the center of every one of them is a statement about Christ. He is at the center of our faith. The Apostle's Creed says: "I Believe in Jesus Christ our Lord who was concieved by the Holy Spirt, born of the virgin Mary Suffered under the Pontius Pilate, was crucified died and buried, he descended to the dead, he ascended to heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Fatrher almighty, from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead." Even the central idea in a child's faith is "Jesus loves me."

We as Christians do what we do because of who our Brother is and Father is. We gather as a church and worship because Christ came down and earned our forgiveness for us. We treat our fellow human beings as if they were our sisters and brothers because we know that we are equal in our need for the atonement of Jesus' blood. We sacrifice for others in need, not because it makes us look good of feel good, but because Jesus sacrificed himself for us. We can't even speak of love without referring to what Jesus did on calvary.

Sisters and Brothers in Christ, We, the church of Christ, are the family of God. And as the family of God we are different from the families of this world. We are the congregation of the living God the Bulwark of truth. Some things may be acceptable in those other houses, but proper conduct in the household of God is based on a different set of house rules.

The house rules of the household of God are based on the truth that. Jesus came in the flesh. He was made known to us by the Spirit, and was acknowledged by angels. Jesus was preached among the nations. People believed on Him in the world, and he was taken up in glory.

Through Christ's death and resurrection we have been made part of God's family. And in God's family there are no distant cousins. In God's family there are no step brothers and sisters. There are not inlaws and out laws. In God's family we are all brithers and sisters. You see in God's family we are related by blood: the blood of Jesus Christ.

Luke 15:11-32

I became a Father at about the same time I became a preacher. Mary was born 3 months after I arrived at my first appointment as a preacher. As my experience of Fatherhood grew my understanding of the Fatherhood of God has grown too. Being a father can be such a joy! To watch our children learn and grow. To experience the world through their eyes. But being a Father can also be frustrating. Sometimes we tell our children to do one thing and they do another. We do it for their own good but they still disobey us.

Sometimes God our Father get frustrated with us. He tells us not to worship other gods or to steal or to hate our neighbor, and then we do it. He tells us for our own good but many times God�s children still disobey.

Well our passage from Luke tells of God the Father having one of those frustrating times. God had led the children of Israel out of slavery and put them in a promised land and then they got feeling superior. When God sent his Son, Jesus, he made it a practice to minister to everyone equally; even tax collectors and sinners! Some of the religious Israelites didn�t like that. You know the type. The ones that go to church and carry their Bibles around and wear ties with religious symbols on them. Well, yeah, folks like you and me. Well, some of these religious folk didn�t like Jesus spending his time on these sinners.

So Jesus told them a story which, if he were telling it in our day, might have gone something like this:

Once there was this man who had two sons. This man owned a business with a large corporate headquarters in an industrial park out near the airport. His two sons were his partners: "Father and Son�s Inc." The younger son barge into his office one day and said, 'Drop dead old man! I�m sick and tired of this Job and I m sick and tired of you. I�m tired of waiting for you to croak so I can get mine so just give me half of you assets now." The Father could have fired the son then and there, had security escort him off the premises and then called his lawyer to have him written out of the will. But instead he called his accountant and arranged for half of his assets to be given to the boy.

Then the younger son caught the next plane to Los Vegas where he threw away his fortune on wine, lose women, and gambling. Soon the money ran out. The country was in the middle of a recession so the only job he could get was as a migrant worker. So he traveled from place to place picking crops for less than minimum wage. He was so destitute that sometimes he would put the produce he was picking in his pockets and eat it later. Then one day when the boss man was particularly mean he realized, 'My Father never treated anyone like this. Even the people in the mail room got a decent wage and benefits. I'll go home and beg him to take me on at the bottom of the ladder for I am no longer worthy to be his son.'

So the son hitchhiked home. Well the Father was looking out the window of his office when he saw a lone figure walking down the road. He quickly took the executive elevator down to the lobby and ran across the parking lot. He stopped only for a moment at the security booth to borrow a pare of binoculars. When he saw it was really his son he ran to meet him. When he got to his son he threw his arms around him and hugged him and kissed him. The boy tried to tell his father that he was unworthy to be his son and that he just wanted a job no matter how menial. But by then the security guard had caught up with them and the Father told him. Get my son some decent clothes. I have an extra Armoni in the executive wash room. Get him and executive ID and key card. Call the caterers and give everyone the afternoon off with pay! My son who was dead is alive again; he was lost but now is found.'

Now the older son had been off on a business trip was just coming back from the airport. As he pulled up to the security booth he could see through the large plate glass windows and party going on in the lobby. He though "who could they be having a party for. Maybe its for me! After all I have been picking up a few extra accounts lately. Maybe his father wanted to congratulate him." He tried not to act like he already knew what was going on when he asked the guard, "Who�s the party for?" It was a shock when the guard said, "It�s your brother. He came back earlier today and your father is throwing him a party!"

This infuriated the older brother. He had been working twice as hard to fill in for what his lazy brother had taken. "This lazy bum had thrown away half his father�s hard earned money. And now they were celebrating his return. What next!" The older brother slammed his car into park and just sat there fuming.

It wasn't long before the Father heard about it and went out to the parking lot to talk to his oldest son and to ask him to come to the party. But the oldest son said, 'Look, my whole life I have been working my fingers to the bone for you. I have haggled with vendors and gone off on trips to visit clients and close accounts. I have always done what you wanted, and never once did you throw a party for me. I am the one who deserves a party not this freeloader. He took your money and wasted it on gambling and show girls and you welcome him like the is the prince of England for heavens sakes.'

But the father said, "Look you have been with me and all that is mine is yours, and let me tell you I really do appreciate all that you have done for our family, but your brother was lost. We didn't know if he was dead of alive, but now he is found. Let's rejoice and be happy that he is alive and back home."

What was that? Oh yes, what did the older son do? Did he go join the party? Well, I don't rightly know; Jesus never said. What would you do?

I believe Jesus ended the story the way he did to make all religious folk ask themselves if they were joining the party and rejoicing when the lost are found. It is meant to make us ask what we would do and then answer by our actions. I believe Grace has chosen to join the party. Like the older brother, Grace has been hard at work taking care of the Father�s business. You have been teaching Disciples Bible Studies. You have been studying God�s Word. You have been building habitat houses. You have been helping the preacher get moved into his house. But unlike the older brother in the parable Grace has been rejoicing at people finding their way home to the father.

There are a lot of prodigal sons and daughters all through Irmo and the Columbia area. This parable tells us that the Father is looking for them to come to their senses and start the journey back home. And just like the Father in the parable God meets them in the road to help them finish the journey. And all the angels in heaven rejoice when one lost soul is saved. Grace has been reaching out into the community and rejoicing at the salvation of lost souls

I don�t know where each of you individually fit into this parable. We may have some prodigal sons and daughters here today. If that is the case let me tell you that the Father welcomes you back to his house and wants you to make yourself at home here. But to all who are rejoicing with the angels, I want you to know I am here to join the party. I want to join you in celebrating and sharing the joy our Father feels at the redemption of one lost soul. As your new pastor I want to continue to lead you in seeking the lost and rejoicing in the found.