What if Your House Became God’s House?

Luke 24:28 So they drew near to the village to which they were going. He acted as if he were going farther, 29 but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?” 33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

• Why did God give you a big house? 

  • Why did Gid think that you needed all of that room? 

  • What Would Happen if you dedicated your house to the Lord?

  • What if you went to heaven and saw just one soul is there for eternity because you gave the Lord one day or more per month to meet in your home.

  • Why do people put millions of dollars into church buildings when the church already has millions of dollars in homes with just one or two people living in them? 

• Would you open up your home for one or two meetings a month if it meant just one soul was discipled and was saved eternally for heaven? 

• I know that is your heart! 

Is Christianity a Personal Relationship with Jesus?

Is there anything personal about being a Christian?

Christianity is not a solo endeavor. 

• Not a private relationship between Jesus and me.

We talk about having personal things.

• We employ a personal trainer to help us shed pounds and get that coveted beachbody. 

• We open a personal bank account to manage our finances. 

• And, please, keep your hands off our personal property 

• And keep your eyes off our personal computers and phones.

Christians, especially Evangelicals, import this language into their faith as well. 

• We talk about faith as a personal thing. 

• Or working on our personal relationship, Jesus. 

1 Corinthians 12:13 ForinoneSpiritwewere all baptizedintoonebody,whetherJewsorGreeks,slaveorfree,andwe were all givenoneSpirit to drink. 14For the body does not consist of one part, but of many.

• Individual, personal, private, just Jesus and me, not how Christianity works.
• Our life with Christ is corporate, not individual; communal, not personal, private. When the Scriptures speak of believers, they are part of a community, a fellowship of other believers.

Consider Paul’s words in Ephesians 1:22-23 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

• Did you get that? 

• The fullness of God is not in your individual heart, and it’s not on some mountain top away from civilization.

• It’s with people—that messy gathering of broken, high-maintenance people that we “have” to meet every Sunday, and every small group meeting if you are mature and not selfish. 

Paul goes on to call this church the temple of the Lord, where “you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit”(Eph. 2:21). 

Again, Paul prays that “you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19), which he already said resides in the local body (1:23). 

• This is why God gave us spiritual gifts (Eph. 4:11-12), so that the body of Christ would be built up, made mature, and become unified where the “fullness of Christ” would radiate (Eph. 4:12-13).

• The Fullness of Christ! It’s not in you. It’s not in me. It’s in us.

• Christianity is about a church relationship with Jesus.

I know this runs contrary to what many modern believers think. And even desire. In an age when we are more isolated than ever, when our worlds often shrink to the size of a phone screen, talk of community sounds like a radical departure from the norm. It is. 

• But the norm of the Christian faith is not isolated believers, little islands of spirituality, but a continent of Christians banded together by the Spirit.

Even when we pray, we pray communally. Indeed, the only prayer Jesus taught us to pray begins, “Our Father,” not “My Father.” 

• No one ever prays alone. 

• We pray in Jesus, through the Spirit, to the Father, in a vast concert with all other believers. Me-and-Jesus prayers are impossible. 

• There are only us-and-Jesus prayers—

What COVID, social media, drive-through restaurants, home entertainment, Amazon delivery, and grocery pickup have done to us. 

We live in the most connected generation in human history—yet we’re drowning in loneliness. You can have 1,000 Facebook friends and still have no one to call at 2 AM when your world is falling apart. You can attend church for 20 years, know 100 names, and still have no one who truly knows your struggles, celebrates your victories, or notices when you’re slipping away.

• Loneliness is a public health crisis. 

• Mental illness, anxiety, and depression are at epidemic levels. People all around us are hurting. Christians are not immune. Many of us sit in crowded pews utterly alone.

• But this isn’t how God designed us to live. And it’s certainly not how Jesus modeled life for us.

What could we Learn from Jesus ‘ meetings in homes with small groups like: 

• The Wedding in Cana of Galilee (John 2:1-12): Performed his first miracle by turning water into wine, restoring joy.

• Peter’s House (Luke 4:38-39): Healed Peter’s mother-in-law of a fever.

• The House in Capernaum (Luke 5:17-26): Forgave sins and healed a paralyzed man lowered through the roof.

• The House of Levi (Luke 5:29-32): Dined with tax collectors and sinners, calling them to repentance.

• Simon’s House (Luke 7:36-46): Forgave a sinful woman who anointed his feet.

• Jairus’ House (Luke 8:41-56): Raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead.

• The House of Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38-42): Taught the importance of listening to his word over worldly concerns.

• The House of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10): Brought salvation, leading to Zacchaeus’s repentance.

• The House in the Cenacle (Upper Room) (Luke 22:10-14): Held the Last Supper, establishing communion.

• The House of Caiaphas (Matthew 26:57): Was tried and judged (an involuntary visit during his arrest).

• The House in Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35): Revealed himself post-resurrection to disciples, opening their eyes.

• The House of the Disciples (John 20:19-23, 26-29): Appeared to disciples, bringing peace and the Holy Spirit.

And where does the Holy Spirit fall upon believers? In a House the Upper room. 

1. EVEN JESUS NEEDED A SMALL GROUP

Let’s start with something that might surprise you: Jesus needed people. Although fully God, he was also in the hypostatic union fully flesh. 

The first statement God made after creating man is, “it’s not good to be alone.” However, many of us have been taught—or seen modeled—that if we’re really mature, we don’t need any friends. Only the weak need somebody. We should be able to stand alone, strong and independent.

That’s not true. And Jesus proves it.

Jesus had the Twelve (well, eleven anyway)—and three of these were intimate friends.

Look at the pattern of Jesus’ life:

• Before Jesus went to Jerusalem, knowing He was about to be crucified, He went to see His good friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. He needed to be with people who loved Him.

• Jesus shared one of the greatest moments of His life with Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration. He could have experienced that alone with the Father. But He wanted His best friends to be there.

• Jesus was struggling in the Garden the night before the crucifixion. He pleaded with His disciples to watch and pray for Him. When He returned an hour later, they were all asleep: “Can you not pray with me one hour?”

Then, it happened a second time. He needed comfort, but again they slept. “Get up. The betrayer is here.”

• Do you feel the loneliness in these words?

  • He couldn’t even carry His cross alone!

  • If the Son of God needed community, what makes us think we don’t?

    • Don’t you like to know that people are praying for you and standing with you in your crisis? So did Jesus. So do I. So do you.

2. JESUS USED SMALL GROUPS AS HIS MODEL FOR MINISTRY

Jesus could have chosen any number of methods for His ministry:

• He could have transferred His ministry to one person whom He had trained quite well

• He could have refused all personal relationships and concentrated on mass teaching only

• He could have chosen a different Twelve every year and multiplied His ministry by 36 rather than 12

• He could have held classes for anyone wanting to attend

But the fact is that Jesus chose the long-term, closed, small group as His primary strategy for personal community and ministry.

Look at the structure Jesus created.

• Leadership Cascade: 3,12,70, 500 Resurrection, 5000 Pentecost, today 2.6 billion. 

3. SMALL GROUPS TRANSFORM SPECTATORS INTO PARTICIPANTS

In our modern church culture, we’ve become experts at gathering crowds but amateurs at building communities. Jesus never intended for us to be spiritual spectators, watching from a distance while a few “professionals” do all the ministry.

The Stadium vs. The Living Room

In large gatherings, you can hide. In small groups, you’re missed when absent. This accountability isn’t about control—it’s about care.

Think about it: When was the last time someone in your Sunday morning row noticed you were gone for three weeks? In a small group, someone would text you after one week.

The Participation Factor

In a small group:

• Scripture is applied, not just learned

• Everyone’s voice matters

• Your spiritual gifts get exercised, not just studied

• You move from consumer to contributor

Many Christians die without ever discovering or using their spiritual gifts because they never get into a setting small enough to experiment.

Consider this: In a congregation of 200, there are about 50 speaking opportunities per year (if everyone preached once). In a small group of 8, there are 400+ opportunities per year to practice hospitality, teaching, encouragement, help, mercy, and more.

Small groups are where:

• The shy person learns to pray aloud

• The intellectual learns to speak plainly

• The teacher learns to listen

• The hurting learn to comfort others with the comfort they’ve received (2 Corinthians 1:4)

4. JESUS PLACED THE HIGHEST PRIORITY ON HIS SMALL GROUP

Here’s something remarkable: Jesus, who had the whole world to save, made the Twelve His priority.

Mark 3:14 tells us: “He appointed twelve that they might BE WITH HIM and that he might send them out to preach.”

Notice the order: “BE WITH HIM” comes before “send them out.”

• Jesus spent 3 years with 12 men, not 3 days with 12,000 people. His strategy was depth before breadth, quality before quantity.

In His great high priestly prayer, Jesus prayed: “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world”(John 17:6-26).

If Jesus, the busiest person who ever lived, made small group community His priority, what does that say to us who claim we’re “too busy”?

A VISION FOR WHAT COULD BE

Imagine a church where:

• No one grieves alone

• No one celebrates alone

• No one fights temptation alone

• No one questions their faith alone

• No one faces Monday morning alone

This isn’t fantasy—this is what the New Testament calls normal Christianity. And it happens best in small groups.

CONCLUSION: THE BURNING COALS – Let me close with a story from John Wesley.

Wesley once visited a man who had stopped attending his small group (called “class meetings” in Wesley’s day). Wesley sat by the man’s fire and said nothing. He simply took tongs, pulled a burning coal from the fire, and set it aside on the hearth.

• They both watched in silence as the isolated coal quickly grew cold and dark, while the coals together continued burning bright.

• Wesley stood, still having said nothing, and left.

• The next week, the man returned to his small group.

The point: A coal by itself goes cold. Christians in isolation grow cold. We need each other to keep the fire burning.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 says it this way: “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down togther together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

Let’s pray. Father, we thank You that You didn’t leave us alone. You sent Your Son, who modeled life in community. You sent Your Spirit, who creates community. You gave us Your church, where we find our people. Help us to overcome our fear, our pride, our busyness, and our excuses.  

“Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:11