I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.
– 1 Timothy 3:14–15
Did you hear that description of the church? Did you hear what you and I who are in Christ are a part of? The church is described first as the household of God.
1 Timothy 3:14–15 Portrays the Church as a Loving Family
I think about my household. It’s always filled with my children and all the different things that are going on in our lives together as a family. I think about when we have family worship at night. There’s singing and the, well, it usually ends in wrestling of some sort, and laughing. The opposite end of the spectrum is when one of us in our house is struggling with something. Maybe one of us is having a hard day, and we’re working to encourage one another.
I could go on and on. The point is not to talk about my household, but think about the household of God. Think about what it means to be a part of the church. Sons and daughters, children of our heavenly Father, sharing joys and heartaches. We walk through life together. We bear each other’s burdens. And we lift each other up reflecting the love of our Father toward us for one another. Yes, let’s be the household of God, the church of the living God. The word for church in the New Testament. The called-out ones. Those who’ve been saved by his grace, called by his voice, his Spirit into a relationship with him. We are the church, the called-out ones of the living God.
1 Timothy 3:14–15 Teaches Us the Church is the Pillar and Buttress of Truth
Listen to this last phrase, “a pillar and buttress of the truth.” We have the truth. We have the Word of God, the revelation of who God is, ultimately, in Jesus, the way, the truth and the life. Oh, what an honor to be a part of a household that is the pillar and buttress of the greatest truth, the most important truth in all the world, in all of history. Jesus, his life, his death, his resurrection, the revelation of God to us in the gospel.
So as we pray according to these verses, be encouraged that, in Christ, you’re a part of the household of God. You are a part of the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. Just think about how that leads us to pray.
Oh God, we praise you for the privilege of being a part of your church. You’re the living God and you have made us your household. We praise you for the privilege of being your sons and daughters today, of being brothers and sisters in a community unlike anything else in all the world, both globally, that spans the nations and ethnicities and backgrounds and locally, to be a part of a local church.
This Verse Encourages Us to Become Part of the Community of Believers
God, I pray for anyone who is not a part of, a committed member of, a local church. Draw them to a community of brothers and sisters in Christ whom they can grow together with. Take them to a community where they can build and be built up by in Christ as a picture, as a portrait of what it means to be your body and your bride, Lord Jesus, on the earth. And God, that in our local churches and as the global church, we would realize the wonder of who we are and who you’ve called us out to be, that you would help us to stand firm as a pillar and buttress of the truth.
God, we pray that the truth of the gospel, that the truth of Jesus, the truth of your Word, would be supreme in our churches, not our ideas, not our thoughts, not our opinions or preferences, but your Word. That it would reign supreme in our lives and in our family, our household together. You help us to obey your Word and proclaim your Word. God, we pray that through our lives and our churches, the truth will spread. The truth of Jesus’s love, life, and salvation would spread through us, right around us in our communities and all around the world.
Prayer for the Ormuri People
God, we pray today for the Ormuri people of Afghanistan, 3,500 of them known followers of Jesus. God, we pray for the planting of a church among the Ormuri people. We pray that you’ll bring them into the household. Oh, God, oh, as we pray for unreached people around the world, God, we pray for family that’s yet to come in, for brothers and sisters in Afghanistan who’ve not yet heard the gospel, and you are calling them to yourself. God, raise up labors. Bless our brothers and sisters who are in Afghanistan. Send others to come alongside them. And God, we pray for the spread of the gospel, for disciples to be made and churches, households of the living God to be planted all throughout Afghanistan and specifically among the Ormuri people.
God, we pray all of this as your children to you as our Father. In Jesus’ name, we pray, according to 1 Timothy 3:14–15.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
