Matthew 13:52 ~ Pt. 3 ~ Listen Up Heads of Households & Churches

Posted by John Reuther on January 30, 2010

House Trash Trivia If you have been following this three-part series on the parable of the householder (see Part 1 and Part 2), you are surely thinking of how it applies to us in practical ways. If we have any responsibilities in our housholds or in the church it needs to be asked: What does your household, or your ministry, look like? Which side of the house illustration that you see here best describes how you are fulfilling Matt. 13:52? Is it filled with trash, trivia, or treasure?

Some men or women bring their trash into their household. By trash I mean ungodliness, sinful ways, foolishness, or, worst case, treacherous dealings with members of the household or church. You can try to hide trash, but it always stinks. It wafts its way through closed doors and tight spaces; it is eventually discovered by wives, family members, or the people of God. Sins and addictions that beset professing Christians keep many men from being the kind of head that each household needs. David said: “I will give heed to the blameless way…I will walk within my house in the integrity of my heart. I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away, it will not fasten its grip on me” (Psalm 101:2-3). “How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust, and has not turned to the proud, not to those who lapse into falsehood” (Psalm 40:4).

Men and women, let’s examine ourselves. Our families need us. The devil seeks to destroy godly families and good churches. The treasures of God are freely given, having been purchased at great cost by the gem of all history, Jesus Christ the son of God. Look to your heart. What do you see there: trash or treasure? Then remember what Jesus said about this matter. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). Can we say that our heart, our motives, and our desires are pure? “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). If we can’t see God for impurities in our hearts, how will we see God clearly enough to point our family members to Him and His treasures? If we don’t show them the treasure, who will? “Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, faith and purity, show yourself an example to those who believe” (1 Timothy 4:12).

Paul gave us the battle plan for removing the trash that we try to hide in our hearts or bring into our homes and churches. “Therefore, put to death the members of your earthly body: immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry…put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth” (Colossians 3:5, 8).

But there is another problem. Sometimes we fill our storehouse with trivia rather than treasure, things that have no real value. Some things seem neutral and not bad or evil in themselves, but they do not possess the quality of spiritual treasure. God commands us to “approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ” (Philippians 1:10). Trivia are trifles and unimportant matters that serve no godly purpose and leave no lasting blessing. Growing in Christ’s school of discipleship teaches us to “deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live soberly and righteously and godly in this present age” (Titus 2:11-12). Christian men and women need discernment and creative leadership to show their loved ones how they can lead godly, prosperous, fulfilled, happy, useful, and contented lives without selling themselves to worldly pursuits or wasting precious time in pursuing the vain things of this world.

Are our homes places of learning and growing with the proper amount of relaxation and family fun mixed in?[1] Or are they one continual fun house with games galore leaving little time for kingdom pursuits? The head of the household knows when to bring out some new things to help the family relax and rest, to unwind and enjoy, but never by sacrificing Christian truth and heritage and leaving off the pursuit of Christian discipline in following Christ. The same can be asked of the church today. Are churches really serious about growing in the serious study of the Word of God, attendance upon the means of grace, the preaching of solid exegetical sermons with searching practical application?

Is the talk in our homes and churches superficial, light, and void of Christ? Or do we speak of the glory of God, our desires for Him, our prayers, and answers to our prayers? Do we speak of Christ and testify of our satisfaction in His fullness in our lives? Fill both your heart, your home, and you church, with the treasure of Christ, Scripture, prayer and thanks: excellent things, things of true and lasting worth and goodness, the heritage of our faith, and the power of the kingdom.

The Making of a Good Head of a Household

The Gospel of Christ has designed that you and I should be like the converted scribe who is a head of a household who brings out of his treasure things new and old. We have seen how this applies to the original twelve disciples, all disciples in the kingdom, husbands, fathers, mothers, Sunday-School teachers, pastors and teachers. The question therefore is: are you converted and constituted as such a man or woman in the family, or in the church, where God has placed you?

Are you one who possesses the treasure? Are you one who longs to show the treasures to your wife and family, to you children? Are you one in whom the good things of God are evident and whose life bears credible testimony to God’s love and powerful grace? Do you have the wisdom of a converted scribe of the kingdom who offers solutions to family members and the people of God, help for difficulties and distresses, and creative ways to get out of the ruts of life that beset us?

Do you read the Bible with earnestness, and seek for knowledge that gives practical wisdom? Do you read good Christian books and budget money each year for the purchase of those excellent works that will make you a good spiritual leader? Do you limit your intake of sports and entertainment so that they afford you occasional relaxation and not mastery over your heart and time? Do you sing hymns with your family? Do you help your wife so that you will be able as a family to open your home for Christian hospitality and evangelism? Are you equipping the members of you church for ministry and service (Ephesians 4:11-13).

Do you attend church faithfully so that you can keep filling your treasure-chest with the good things of God? Are you so eager for the treasures of God that nothing except real sickness or distress will keep you from being in God’s house?

Solomon’s book of Ecclesiastes tells the sorry tale of the deterioration of his beautiful life as the world’s greatest wise man. He tells of how he allowed riches and pleasure and power and idolatry and women to corrupt his life and sink him into a life of futility. But by God’s grace he saw how wretched he was. Ecclesiastes is his confession, tells of his restoration, and gives us a much-needed warning.

At the end of the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon speaks about the work of the preacher. Of course, he is the preacher, and he has been speaking things new and old to guide others into safe paths. “In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out and arranged many proverbs. The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly” (Ecclesiastes 12:9-10).

Praise God for all preachers who work this hard to display the treasures of God to others in the churches today! Oh, how we need men like this who will show this generation that worldly treasures are really trash and trivia. Pray that God will empower preachers to be like converted scribes who have become disciples of the kingdom, who bring forth things new and old, so that they may present the true riches (Luke 16:11) to their fellow men.

But if you are the head of a household, no matter how small or large it may be, YOU ARE THE PREACHER there! Solomon goes on to say: “The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd” (Ecclesiastes 12:11). A godly man is a wise man. A Christian man is like a converted scribe who searches the Scripture much like a business man seeks profit in pearls.

But you may say, I am not gifted in speech and I am not eloquent as a preacher must be. Would God ask you to do something impossible? Would He place you in your household, give you a wife or children, and not give you the resources to lead? No, He is equipping you to do it. But in order to be the preacher, the wise leader, and the true head, you must listen to the preacher and seek precious gems from him. Follow Christ, hear what the Spirit says, and follow pastors who lead you in the church (Hebrews 13:7).

This is how God makes you a good head of a household. He makes you a pillar in His household, the Church, and gives you treasure there so that you can be the preacher of wisdom like Solomon, and a reflection of Christ the preacher, in your family. You can be what God wants you to be and what your family needs you to be if you will feed on the word of God as you read it and as your hear it opened up in your church.

The church is the household of God and the pillar and support of the truth (1 Timothy 3:15). If you want to be a pillar in your household, you must be one in your church. Apollos is a good example of the head that Jesus is speaking of in this parable: He was “mighty in the Scriptures” (Acts 18:24).

So here is the bottom line: “Store up…treasures in heaven…there your heart will be also…do not be worried about your life…seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:20, 21, 25, 33), so that you can and will “bring out of (your) treasure things new and old” (Matthew 13:52).

John Reuther – Pastor, Covenant Baptist Church, Lumberton, NJ, Reformed Baptist Seminary, Easley, SC.

[1] I encourage the reader to read Redeeming the Time: A Christian Approach to Work & Leisure, by Leland Ryken (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1995). I hope to do a book review of this book on RBS Tabletalk in the near future.