Overview
Obedience to the household of faith begins with obeying God rather than men. Rev. Rico Magnelli traces this principle from Acts through Romans, Galatians, Corinthians, and Philippians, showing how justification through the faith of Jesus Christ frees believers from condemnation, human judgment, and fear. The teaching then turns outward: a spiritual family listens to God, walks by the Spirit, speaks boldly, and strives together for the faith of the gospel.
Transcript
Obey God Rather Than Men
God bless you in the name of Jesus Christ and welcome to this final presentation in the Apologia Series, Apologia 5, Obedience to the Household of Faith. Please turn to Acts chapter five, the book of Acts chapter five. Obedience to the household or the family faith is really about obeying God rather than men.
Now we obey first individually, but obedience to the household of faith is also about helping our brothers and sisters because it’s a family. Obedience to the household of faith is a family endeavor we do together. And as we go to the book of Acts, we note that in the beginning of the church as recorded in Acts chapter two, the believers really met with little resistance, but it’s after this that religious leaders and worldly men arose, setting up a challenge to the new church.
Obey God or obey men. Let’s see this where the apostles answer in Acts chapter five, verse 29. And then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men.
And that’s at the very crux of this issue of obedience to the household of faith. It’s obeying God rather than men. And the word obey here means obey one in authority.
And that one in authority is God. He’s the one that we’re persuaded goes first. To obey God is to speak boldly for him like the apostles are doing here when they are being challenged.
Verse 30, the God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom he slew and hanged on a tree. That’s pretty bold. Him have God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and savior for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
And we are his witnesses. We are his witnesses of these things. And so is also the Holy Ghost.
That’s the gift in manifestation. The gift of Holy Spirit is manifestation whom God has given to them that obey him. That’s the same word obey as in verse 29.
So the witness is that gift in manifestation and there’s nine manifestations of the gift, speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues and prophecy, word of knowledge, word of wisdom, discerning of spirits, gifts of healings, workings of miracles and believing. And when we obey God, we carry out those manifestations. We walk by the spirit.
That’s part of being obedient to the household of faith. Well, the religious leaders didn’t like this. Look at verse 33.
When they heard that they were cut to the heart and took counsel to slay them. That’s their response. Let’s kill these guys.
The words they were cut actually mean from the Greek, divide by sawing, divide by saw. And they saw through mentally. They were cut in half mentally.
It reminds me of Hebrews 4.12 and how powerful the word of God really is. It’s quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the divining asunder, a soul and spirit and the joints and marrow and as a discern of the thoughts and the intents of the heart. Well, these guys were cut to the quick.
They just were separated. So angry because the apostles spoke the word. They were bold.
Look at Romans chapter one. You know, there’s nothing wrong with loving obedience to men who obey God. In fact, there’s everything right with it.
It says in Romans 13, verse five, that we are to be subject to the higher powers. And that subject means loving obedience by proper arrangement and deliberate decision. It also says in Ephesians 5.21 that we are submitting yourselves one to another in respect of God.
And that submitting is also loving obedience by proper arrangement and deliberate decision. So no problem with loving obedience to those that are obeying God, but we’re not talking about people that are obeying God here like we saw in Acts chapter five. Here in the book of Romans, we see this same phrase about obeying the household of faith.
Romans chapter one, verse five. By whom we have received grace and apostleship, Paul wrote, for obedience to the faith, that’s the household, the family faith, among all nations for his name. The book of Romans starts out with obedience to the household faith.
And this obedience is obedience as a result of attentive hearing, attentive hearing. And it comes from a Greek verb. This is the noun form here in Romans 1.5, but this comes from a Greek verb, hupakouo.
Attentive Hearing and Obedience
It’s transliterated H-U-P-A-K-O-U, long O. And it means to hear. But it carries a sense of stillness or attention in order to answer. So look at Acts chapter 12.
Let’s see a little bit more about this obedience. This hearing to the end of obeying, hearkening submissively is one way that it’s put. Acts chapter 12.
This situation, Peter was taken and put in prison by Herod and the believers were praying for his release and Peter is released and angel comes and releases him from prison. And then he comes to the house where people are praying and we’ll pick it up in verse 12. And when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying.
And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came to hearken named Rhoda. So this gal heard Peter knock and she came to the door. She hearkened.
The word hearkened is hupakuo. She heard, she paid attention. She heard and responded with action.
This is what this word obedience means. But remember, it takes like stillness and an attentiveness to hear. We have to pay attention to hear God.
What we listen to and who we listen to determines a lot of our success in life. And it’s important that God gets first place and he gets the attention of our heart to hear him and hear his word. It says in Psalm 4610, be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am God. God is knocking on the door of the heart of his believers. To awake and we listen as God works in us and take action.
Look at Romans chapter one again. Certainly speaking in tongues helps to quiet us. Speaking in tongues abundantly has tremendous profit in our lives.
From Believing to the Faith of Jesus Christ
We’re looking at obedience to the household of faith. And obedience to the household of faith only allows for God’s judgment, not man’s. And this is very important and foundational when it comes to obeying God rather than men.
Romans chapter one in verse 16. For I’m not ashamed, Paul wrote, of the gospel of Christ or that pertains to Christ. For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew or Judean first, and also to the Greek, the Gentile.
The Judean and the Gentile, these are natural men of body and soul. But natural man can believe. Sure.
Let’s see this, verse 17. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith or from believing to the faith of Jesus Christ, as it is written, the just shall live by faith or believing. From believing to the faith of Jesus Christ.
Natural man does not have faith, but natural man can believe. And when natural man believes, confesses with his mouth the Lord Jesus and believes that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved, Romans 10, nine. He can believe this and then he receives the faith of Jesus Christ.
We believe all the way unto the faith of Jesus Christ. Dr. Rowe wrote in Powerful Among the Living, page 271, quote, faith is an inner spiritual development while believing is an action of the human mind, end quote. So faith is in the category of what God does.
Believing is what man does. And the faith of Jesus Christ represents his believing to the uttermost. He accomplished God’s plan of redemption for man.
Look at Galatians chapter two. This is at the very foundation, again, of the household of faith and obedience to it. Galatians chapter two, in verse 16.
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be testified. That is so clear.
See, justification is the legal decision by God to acquit man of guilt and sin and declares man acceptable to him. God is the final judge and he’s the one that justified us. It was his legal decision to acquit us of guilt and sin.
And what got us there is the faith of Jesus Christ. Look at chapter three of Galatians. Now, Jesus did not have faith.
He did not have faith, because it wasn’t available. He came to make faith available. To Jesus, it was believing to achieve man’s redemption.
Look at verse 22 of Galatians three. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin that the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that do one thing, believe. That’s Romans 1, 17.
We believe all the way unto the faith of Jesus Christ. That’s what bridges the chasm between man and God. That’s what gets someone born again.
See, to us, after Pentecost, it is safe because he’s no longer believing to achieve our redemption. It is finished. We are complete in him, lacking nothing.
Like Colossians 2, 10 says, we are complete. Look at verse 23. But before faith came, that’s the faith of Jesus Christ.
We were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith. What faith? The faith of Jesus Christ, which should afterwards be revealed because to us after Pentecost, it’s his faith because he’s no longer believing to achieve our redemption. It’s been done, it’s finished.
It’s like God packaged his believing and gave it to us as the faith of Jesus Christ. The faith of Jesus Christ is common to all born again believers. God and the Father were his children, and that’s why it’s a family, hence the household, or the family faith.
This is really tremendous because Christians who know and apply these truths can live a higher quality of life, not being victims, but spiritual successors as more than conquerors in every situation because a more than conqueror mindset is built on the justification through the faith of Jesus Christ that we have. Assigning the role of judge to men in place of God opens the door for all kinds of judgment, for condemnation and criticism. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter four, please.
Accepting God’s Judgment Instead of Man’s
1 Corinthians chapter four. When that happens, when we assign the role of God to men to judge, problems ensue because then the approval and the acceptance and permission is sought of men rather than God who’s already given us approval, acceptance, and permission to live free in Christ and speak for him. It’s based on our justification because we have been acquitted of all guilt and sin and we’re acceptable to God.
So obedience to the household of faith only allows for God’s judgment, not man’s. And we’ll read about this here in 1 Corinthians chapter four. The apostle Paul writes, let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. But with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man’s judgment. Yea, I judge not mine own self.
There are three categories of judgment here that we want to take note of. They are all judging by the five senses and we want to refuse those. The first one is Carl Christians.
Paul says in verse three that I should be judged of you. He’s talking to the Corinthian believers. And the Corinthian believers were Carl Christians.
That’s why he had to write this reproof epistle bringing it back to the foundation of the book of Romans. Because remember in 1 Corinthians three, just a chapter before, they were saying some are of a Paul, some of a Paulus. Are you not Carl and walk as man? So the first category is Carl Christians.
The second is of man’s judgment. And the word judgment is day, man’s day. That’s the world.
Man does the judging in the world today in the grace administration. They judge everything. But we don’t want to be open to those kind of judgments.
And then third, it says yea, I judge not mine own self. So we don’t even judge ourselves. We submit to the judgment of God.
Not to Carl Christians, not to the world, and not to our own selves. That’s what it means to obey God rather than men. That is so important when it comes to obedience to the household of faith.
The words in verse three, I should be judged, and I judge. Those two phrases are translated from one Greek word. And it means to judge again.
Why would we judge again when God has already judged? He’s already justified us through the faith of Jesus Christ. We’ve already been acquitted of guilt and sin and made acceptable to him. Why would we judge again when he’s already slammed the gavel and closed the case? We are free in Christ Jesus.
It also says that a steward is to be faithful. Well now in the context we understand a little bit more what it means to be faithful. Faithful here is not allowing ourselves to be judged or to judge ourselves again when God has justified us through the faith of Jesus Christ.
We don’t wanna overrule God. It’s a completed judgment. It’s done.
We do not entertain judgments about us that contradict our God-given justification. And to do so is to overrule God. But we wanna obey God, not men, right? God’s legal decision to acquit man of guilt and sin and declare man acceptable is the only judgment to accept.
This is what it means to obey God. Even self-judgment, you know, the whole soul-searching thing, condemnation. It’s to overrule God.
Without the justification by the faith of Jesus Christ, what happens is believers seek justification from other people or even their own selves. Look at verse four. For I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
I wanna read to you from the English Standard Version. Verse four reads, For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me.
What Paul is saying is that I’m not even aware of anything that I should judge myself on, but I’m not the judge. I’m not gonna even judge on that. I’m gonna let God be the judge.
That’s obeying God rather than men. Without the justification by the faith of Jesus Christ, I mentioned that believers seek justification from other people. Well, that justification then becomes a source of acceptance, approval, and permission.
It comes from men rather than God. Now, if we’re justified by God, that’s great through the faith of Jesus Christ. But if we’re justified by men, then that becomes a respect of persons.
No Condemnation and the Walk by the Spirit
And that needs correction. Look at Romans chapter eight. Romans chapter eight, please.
Romans chapter eight. We’re considering obedience to the household of faith, which basically is all about obeying God rather than men. Romans chapter eight and verse one.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. It says there is therefore now no condemnation. This word condemnation means sentence pronounced against.
There’s no sentence pronounced against us now or in the future, because 1 Thessalonians 1.10 and Romans 5.9 tell us that we are saved from the wrath to come. There is no sentence pronounced against us. That’s important because we’ve been justified by God through the faith of Jesus Christ.
That’s why there is no more judgment. But what happens is that when people allow someone else like men to justify them, then they’re open up to all the kinds of judgments. Now, obedience to the household of faith also draws a line between the walk of the flesh and the walk by the spirit.
The walk by the spirit is to obey God. The walk of the flesh is obeying men, in a sense. Look at verse five of Romans 8. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, the five senses.
But they that are after the spirit, the spirit in manifestation, the gift in manifestation, the things of the spirit, God. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. That’s what we want.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God. To be carnal is to be against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, God’s word, neither indeed can be.
That’s right. If we’re gonna obey God, we gotta obey his word. Verse eight.
So then they that are in the flesh, walking by the five senses, cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit. If so be that the spirit, that’s the gift, of God dwell in you.
Now if any man have not the spirit, the gift of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin. But the spirit, the gift, is life because of righteousness.
But if the spirit, the gift, of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit in manifestation that dwelleth in you. Sure. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh to live after the flesh.
We don’t wanna walk by the five senses. We wanna obey God. For if you live after the flesh, ye shall die.
But if you through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the spirit of God, that’s a gift in manifestation, they are the sons of God. Wow.
Now look at verse 15. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage, again, to fear. But you’ve received the spirit of adoption or sonship whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Now this spirit of bondage is very significant here in the context because we wanna obey God, not men. And the spirit of bondage makes people afraid to live for the true God. And to speak the word when they should, it binds them.
The word bondage is from the Greek word doulos, which means a bond slave. It binds people. It enslaves them so they don’t do the word.
Even though they know the word, they won’t do the word. And it also includes walking by the spirit. In the context you see it, it’s beautiful because we wanna obey God rather than men.
Even when someone knows something is wrong, this spiritual influence binds them from living for God and speaking what they know should be spoken. Even when something is inherently good, like for instance, planning. Planning is a very good thing.
You could have your calendar, you plan, nothing wrong with that, everything good with it. But even that can become a source of bondage if, and I mean if, it genuinely cycles the spirit of God or is used as another form of controlling people. Our justification through the faith of Jesus Christ is our foundation upon which we are more than a conqueror because we’re not open to all those judgments.
We only have one judge and that’s God and he’s made us acceptable to him. Look at Romans 8, verse 30. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called.
And whom he called, them he also justified. God’s legal decision to acquit man of guilt and sin and make man acceptable to him. And whom he justified, them he also glorified.
When we walk in with that faith of Jesus Christ in our heart being justified, we look to that glory which is to be revealed in the future at the return of Christ. It lives within our souls. What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Absolutely.
If God’s already justified us through the faith of Jesus Christ, it’s over. We are complete in Christ. He that spared not his own son but delivered him up for us all, how shall we not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect is God that justifieth.
There is no more judgment. There is no more criticism. And we don’t give in to the carnal Christian of the world, even our own selves, because God has justified us through the faith of Jesus Christ.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, ye rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. In other words, is Jesus Christ gonna condemn us after he redeemed us? No, absolutely not. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? These are all challenging situations that could separate, but no, verse 36, as it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
That’s the victim mentality. When we give in to that tribulation, that distress, that persecution, that famine, all those things, that’s the victim mentality. But we don’t have that because our foundation is the faith of Jesus Christ that has justified us.
Nay, verse 37, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Our God-given justification is part of the foundation upon which a more-than-a-conqueror mindset is built. When that foundation erodes, what you see is Christian believers don’t have that more-than-a-conqueror mindset.
They lose that boldness in Christ Jesus. They lose that boldness to live for God. They’re in bondage.
They lose that boldness to speak for God when they should speak. That’s right, because that foundation of justification to the faith of Jesus Christ has been eroded, and they’re seeking justification from some other source, called Christianity, the world, or even their own selves, like Paul wrote. But he said, no, no, I don’t do that.
The Apostles’ Doctrine and Life Together
I don’t go for that. Look at Acts chapter six. We’re understanding a little bit more of what it means to be obedient to the household of faith, because we all share in that faith of Jesus Christ which has justified us.
And given us the perfect standing before God through Christ. Not before men, Acts chapter six. Now, in the book of Acts, they didn’t understand and didn’t have access, certainly at this point in Acts six, to the revelation of Romans.
They didn’t understand it all, but they walked out on what they understood. And they started with the apostles’ doctrine. And look what it says here in Acts chapter six, verse seven.
We’ve looked at this verse previously. And the word of God increased, and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly, and a great company of the priests, or Judeans, were obedient to the faith, the household, the family faith. Look at that.
That is tremendous. It says the word of God increased. That word increased is the Greek word auxano, transliterated A-U-X-A-N, long O. It means, in essence, growth from within, from stage to stage, without compulsion.
It’s that genuine growth from that vitality within, not being forced to grow, but walking with God and believing God, and that genuine growth happens. And it also says obedient to the family faith. That’s the Greek word koupakou, we’ve looked at that one.
Hearing, with the sense of stillness and attentiveness to the end of carrying it out, obeying. And it’s to the family faith. What’s interesting here is the word increased, and the word obedient, are both verbs, and the continuous, repetitive, or habitual action, according to the Greek grammatical structure.
Meaning the believers were constantly growing in the word as they were constantly being obedient to the household of faith. So growth in the word and obedience to the household of faith are definitely tied together. Absolutely tied together.
Walking by the Spirit in Acts
Look at Acts chapter three. Now, the verse seven of Acts chapter six, and it’s a brief summary. And it summarizes points that occurred in the section Acts 3-1 through Acts 6-6.
So we’re gonna look at a couple of those things to pick up what it means in the body of the book of Acts, and what it means to be obedient to the household of faith. And we’re gonna see one of those is walking by the Spirit, operating those manifestations. Acts chapter three.
Here, Peter and John go up to the Temple Gate Beautiful, and they are going to heal a man that’s been laying from his mother’s womb. Verse four, and Peter fastening his eyes upon him, with John said, look on us. And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.
Then Peter said, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him, Peter, took him by the right hand, and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
Wow. Walking by the Spirit is obeying God as he works in us. It’s again, back to obeying God.
It’s based on the word that we know and believe. Here, the apostles knew the apostles’ doctrine. We have a lot more word that we understand because of the seven church epistles and the completion of that, the New Testament.
Boldness Under Pressure
Look at Acts chapter four. Now, this situation with the man at the Temple Gate really stirred up the religious people, like we talked about earlier. But look at how the apostles spoke boldly.
That’s part of that obedience to the household of faith because they stood on the faith of Jesus Christ that had justified them. Verse 10 of chapter four. Be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, ye crucified, whom God has raised from the dead, even by him, doth this man stand here before you whole.
This is the stone which was set at naught of you builders, which has become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, speaking boldly, they weren’t afraid to speak for God.
See, these religious leaders were trying to stop them from living for the true God and speaking the word. They were trying to put them in bondage, but the apostles would have nothing of that. They had a more than a conqueror mindset.
They were speaking boldly. Look at verse 19. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
Well, in the sight of God is who we wanna please. We wanna obey him. And we should listen to God more than we should listen to men who don’t walk with God.
Believers listen to the word of God over the word of men. And then they speak what they’ve seen and heard. Look what this leads to.
For we cannot but speak the things which we’ve seen and heard. It was like a fire burning within them, like Jeremiah, the prophet said of old. If the word was like a fire sharp in my bones and I could not stay, he just couldn’t hold it within because it was just living vibrantly within him.
So when they had further threatened them, that’s usually their modus operandi to threaten, that they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them because of the people for all men glorify God for that which was done. Yeah, public opinion certainly carries sway with these religious people. No question about that.
For the man was above 40 years old and whom this miracle of healing was shown. And being let go, they went to their own company and reported all of the chief priests and elders have said unto them. And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said.
They lifted up their voice in prayer with one accord. That one accord is that Greek word homophilodon, one passion to move with God. They’re praying here.
They want to respond to this situation with God. They wanna get God involved. That’s why they’re praying.
Verse 29, and now Lord behold their threatenings. Threats of punishment come from those who lord over God’s people. That’s right.
These threats can be intimidating. They can put people in bondage where they will not live for the true God or speak for the true God when they know they should. That can stop leaders in believing from doing that word, walking by the spirit and speaking the word.
Fear has ruined more men’s ministries than anything. Well, it didn’t ruin these men’s ministries because they spoke up and they’re praying. Look what they’re gonna pray for.
And grant unto thy servants with all boldness they may speak thy word. Man, that’s a more than a conqueror mindset. By stretching forth thy hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of that holy child Jesus.
And when they had prayed, the place was shaken, meaning they were stirred to action where they were assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spoke the word of God with boldness. Wow. Look at chapter five.
We Ought to Obey God Rather Than Men
Chapter five. After being straightly commanded to not preach and teach in the name of Jesus Christ, look at verse 28. Saying, did not we straightly command you that you should not teach in his name? That’s that bondage.
Trying to restrict them in living for the true God and speaking for the true God. Well, we know what verse 29 says, that Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we are to obey God rather than men. Verse 32.
And we are his witnesses of these things. And so is the Holy Ghost, meaning the gift in manifestation. Part of that witness was the healing of that man at the temple gate before, it was a gift in manifestation whom God had given to them that obey him.
Absolutely. Religious leaders who walk by their senses resist the truth, including God working in the gift of Holy Spirit in and among the believers. Look at Acts chapter six.
We’re considering obedience to the household of faith. How it’s to obey God rather than men. How it’s to speak boldly, standing on our justification through the faith of Jesus Christ.
Here in this situation, the widows, the Grecian widows were being missed or overlooked in the daily ministration. In verse two it says, then the 12 called a multitude of the disciples unto them and said, it is not reason that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. They set the priority.
The word has got to be our first focus. You’ve gotta keep the word, which is God’s grace in the work of the ministry. Wherefore brethren, look ye out among ye seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost, meaning full of the Holy Spirit in manifestation and wisdom and spiritual wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
But we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word. And the saying, please, the whole multitude. See, obedience to the household of faith allows long suits or functions of service to emerge because we’re not intimidated by each other.
Meaning we want each other to function because we each have the same measure of faith. Romans 12 free tells us that. And that’s the faith of Jesus Christ.
We encourage an environment where our young people grow and develop their long suits and interests according to the word. This is the way the word continues to thrive from one generation to the next. We don’t wanna squelch them.
Winning Together in the Spiritual Competition
They may not have done everything perfectly, but they loved and were bold in their believing. This is important to remember. Look at Galatians chapter six.
Obedience to the household of faith is about winning in the spiritual competition. Obeying God rather than men. And we fight for our brothers and sisters.
And obedience to the household of faith removes a self-centered life to a Christ-centered life of service. Because obedience to the household of faith starts with us, but it’s not just about us. Look at Galatians chapter six in verse 10.
As we are there for opportunity, the right thing at the right time, let us do good unto all. Sure, we wanna be good to all men. That’s how we win people.
Especially unto them who are the household of faith. There it is. Obedience to the household of faith is to put fellow believers as a priority.
Helping Every Believer Mature in Christ
Because God put us in a household, a family, to help each other grow in Christ. Look at Colossians chapter one. Colossians chapter one.
Everybody deserves that because everybody has a treasure in earth and vessels. That the excellency of the power is of God and not of us. And we wanna raise up each individual.
Verse 27 of Colossians one, to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery. Among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. That’s the full potential that we have to raise up to maturity, is Christ.
Whom we preach, we bring it home to each individual so they can understand. Warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man mature, perfect as mature in Christ Jesus. Every man.
No one gets missed. That’s obedience to the household of faith. Because we each have the same measure of faith.
The faith of Jesus Christ. Where unto I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. That’s what we labor towards.
Look at Romans 16. We wanna see people mature in Christ Jesus. And it starts with that foundation of obedience to the household of faith.
And we said that Romans, the book of Romans as the foundational treaties for this grace administration is bookends obedience to the household of faith. How tremendous that is. It’s established.
Romans 16, verse 25. Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret since the world began but now is made manifest. And by the scriptures of the prophets, that’s the grace administration prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.
The obedience of the household of family faith. It should be spread abroad to all nations. Obedience to the household of faith bookends the book of Romans.
Obedience to the household of faith is about obeying God rather than men. And only accepting God’s judgment because we have been justified through the faith of Jesus Christ. And with that, we have a more than a conqueror mindset.
We are bold. We are bold. And we speak forth the word that we live for God regardless of any judgment that comes from carnal Christians, the world, or even ourselves.
Striving Together for the Faith of the Gospel
Philippians chapter one, please. Philippians chapter one. When the apostle Paul had taught the revelation of the great mystery there in Ephesus and it had spread out through that entire area of Asia Minor, the word says that so might have grew the word of God and prevailed.
What a testimony. Yet by the end of Paul’s life, as recorded in second Timothy, he says that all those of Asia had turned away from him. Meaning not him, they turned away from what he taught, the revelation of the mystery.
This is not acceptable in our day and time. That’s why we do Philippians one, 27 and 28. Only let your conversation, your citizenship be as it becometh the gospel of Christ that pertains to Christ.
That whether I come and see you or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs. That you stand fast means stand firm. You stand firm in one spirit or as one spiritually.
With one mind, one soul, like one person striving together for the faith, the household of faith, the family faith of the gospel. That’s right. And nothing terrified by your adversaries, which is to them an evident token or points the finger to their perdition or destruction, but to you of salvation and that of God.
Every time we stand together and strive together for the family faith of the gospel and make that known, stand firm on the truth of what it means to be obedient to the household of faith. Obey God rather than men. Only accept the justification, the judgment of God that justified us through the faith of Jesus Christ and be bold to speak and to live for God.
Man, that points out the adversary’s destruction and it points to our salvation. Obedience to the household of faith is characterized by obeying God rather than men. Walking by the Spirit and not by our five senses and not falling prey to the judgments of men that overrule God because we are justified through the faith of Jesus Christ.
Obedience to the household of faith carries a respect came upon every soul that treasure in earthen vessels that Christ in you attitude that promotes an environment of lawsuits and functions of service to flourish. In this Apollybeia series, we’ve endeavored to provide a roadmap on how to get back to God’s grace and living the mystery of the body of Christ. Obedience to the household of faith is the practical home base, if you will, on that roadmap and it is the homophumidon, the one accord to be reached.
May God as the fountain of living waters continue to pour forth his blessings to you and yours through Christ Jesus, our Lord, amen.
Key Takeaways
- Obedience to the household of faith is first obedience to God rather than submission to human pressure.
- The faith of Jesus Christ establishes the believer’s justification, acceptance, and freedom from condemnation.
- Believers serve one another as a family by listening to God, walking by the Spirit, and speaking His Word boldly.
- Spiritual maturity includes refusing judgments that contradict what God has already declared in Christ.
- The household of faith wins together by striving with one mind for the faith of the gospel.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does obedience to the household of faith mean?
It means obeying God rather than men while helping brothers and sisters live together as God’s spiritual family.
Why should believers reject condemnation and human judgment?
God has justified believers through the faith of Jesus Christ, so judgments that contradict His completed verdict should not govern their lives.
How does the household of faith work together?
Believers listen to God, walk by the Spirit, speak His Word boldly, care for one another, and strive together for the faith of the gospel.
Scripture References
- Acts 5:29–32
- Romans 1:5, 16–17
- Acts 12:12–16
- Galatians 2:16
- Galatians 3:22–26
- 1 Corinthians 4:1–5
- Romans 8:1–17, 30–39
- Acts 2:42–47
- Acts 3:1–16
- Acts 4:8–31
- Acts 5:28–32
- Acts 6:1–7
- Galatians 6:1–10
- Colossians 1:24–29
- Romans 16:25–27
- Philippians 1:27–30
Verification note: This page was prepared from a machine-generated transcript. Please check names, Greek terms, Scripture wording, verse references, and the intended Bible translation against the original audio before publication.
