House Rules

Every Monday night, we have a couple of men, sometimes it might be 10 men, who come to my house and in the garage.

I'm looking around, seeing some of the faces that are part of it.

And we affectionately call this weight training session the House of Pain.

So it's called HOP, and it's been going for a couple of years.

And we basically do some weights together.

Now, there are some rules for HOP that you have to learn.

Now, if you come and there's 8 or 10 guys in a small garage, you can't just do your normal workout, because most people, they work out, they do training.

So it's like hard if people start grabbing weights from everywhere, and they just go nuts.

So it's like the house rules are, and I normally have to say house rules are, we all do stuff in order.

There's another rule that's a house rule, and it's about chalk.

Because a lot of people don't use chalk at gyms, but they've watched videos on YouTube about people getting chalk and putting it there and just making chalk go everywhere.

And sometimes I have to just say, guys, house rules, I've got to vacuum up the floor.

Don't need to do that.

It's gentle.

Just gentle.

Just simple application.

Another thing is big...

Sorry, Jonathan.

Thank you, brother.

Another thing which they hate me being like a nanny, I always avoid putting heavy weights on the benches because it cuts the bench.

And when you own the bench, you don't want to destroy it.

So another house rule is when you're changing weights, don't put them on the bench, put them on the ground.

We all grew up in a house with rules, amen?

Amen?

We all grew up in a house.

House rules, it's not just at the House of Pain.

You grew up in a house.

And in fact, I want to suggest tonight that not only is your family of origin a very important place where you learnt house rules, the house rules of your heritage, but the world itself is like a big house that has a whole lot of house rules, and it's the kingdom of this world.

And I think if you think about it, and it's what we see in this passage as well, that Jesus actually teaches us about the house of the kingdom of God.

So there are three houses we're going to interact with tonight, the house of the kingdom of this world, the house of the kingdom of God, and the house of my heritage.

So we're in Mark chapter 3.

I just want to wander through it, make a few comments and then come back to the ideas of the house.

So chapter 3 verse 20, Jesus entered a house, again a crowd gathered so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat.

It's jam-packed.

We don't know where it is.

It's probably Capernaum.

He had a bit of a base there and it's probably there.

Just before it seems like there's been ministry going on on the edge of the Sea of Galilee.

And we're told in verse 21, when his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him for they said he's out of his mind.

So his family's probably come from Nazareth, not that far away, and they've come down over towards the Sea of Galilee.

And they're thinking that in the first century, he might be affected by the demonic.

There might be something weird going on when they say he's out of his mind.

And the teachers of the law, verse 22, who came down from Jerusalem, we know we've just studied what the teachers of the law did when they got together in the Sanhedrin and they decided to undermine Jesus and come up with false claims and ultimately get him killed.

This we've gone back in time in the story, and so this is where it all began.

They heard that there was sort of a bit of a kerfuffle starting to be raised around this teacher named Jesus, and so they've come down from Jerusalem.

And they say he's possessed by Beelzebul, by the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.

Now, they don't deny the fact that he has power over the spiritual realm.

And so they've called him that he's possessed by Beelzebul.

If you try to look that up, it's a bit hard to exactly find out who Beelzebul is, but in the text it tells us he's understood as the prince of demons.

Clearly, the religious leaders are accusing Jesus basically of witchcraft, that he's being empowered by the dark side.

So Jesus calls him over to him and begins to speak to them in parables.

And he says, how can Satan drive out Satan?

He says, so you say I'm on Satan's side, but you see what I'm doing.

I am setting captives free from the power of the evil one.

So how is that possible?

And then he takes a moment to teach you about house rules.

If a kingdom is divided against itself, Jesus says, that kingdom can't stand.

If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand.

His end has come.

In fact, no one can enter a strong man's house without first tying him up.

Then he can plunder the strong man's house.

This is an allegory, but it's, I think, straight out of the Proverbs of Life wisdom, don't you think?

A house divided will not stand.

It doesn't matter where you find it.

It's a business team, a sports team, a church.

What Jesus is saying is true.

A house divided will not stand.

Neither will the team of the demonic.

And so he's making that point.

Verse 28, Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven for all their sins, and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven.

They are guilty of an eternal sin.

He said this because they were saying he has an impure spirit.

Now in the Christian world view, where God by His mercy saves the world, through His Son Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead, that's the story of Easter, and to receive this salvation, a person needs to believe, to have faith that Jesus is their Saviour.

If rather than believing that, you actually believe that Jesus Christ, who lived a perfect life, died on the cross and rose again from the dead, and requests, invites us to put faith in Him, that He's the Saviour.

If you choose to believe, unbelief, if I actually choose, you're not who you say you are, you're actually part of the demonic, then clearly I am not believing that He's the Saviour of the world, right?

I personally don't think there's anything more to it than that.

The unforgivable sin is to die believing that Jesus is not who He says He is.

Then Jesus' mother, verse 31, mother and brothers arrive, standing outside, they sent someone in to call Him.

A large crowd was sitting around Him and they told Him, your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.

Who are my mother and my brothers?

He asked.

Then He looked at those seated in a circle around Him and said, here are my mother and my brothers.

Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother.

Jesus differentiates himself from His family of origin house rules.

Mum, the matriarch, we don't hear anything about Jesus' dad at all, so we assume He's probably died.

But Mum, the matriarch has come to take charge of her eldest son, who's gone a bit haywire, and Jesus lovingly differentiates.

So what do we learn about house rules from this text?

Firstly, the house of the kingdom of this world.

House language might sound a little weird, but it's simply the idea that no matter what time in history you live, people live in houses and houses have rules, where we started.

I was reflecting on this, and I've been really blessed in my life.

One of my favourite houses that I slept over the night in was in a bomber, which is a small area where Maasai warriors gather, and we slept over the night in a mud or cow poo hut, a very small little hut that was the chief's hut.

And I remember there were certain rules about what you could do in that tiny little hut, and I haven't slept over night in them all, but like I was thinking, I've been blessed by hospitality in slum homes in Guatemala and Ethiopia and Cambodia, Uganda, Zambia, and I can testify they all have rules.

You come in and sometimes in Ethiopia you have to have a coffee, in other places you have to have goat milk, and sometimes you have to take your shoes off.

Do you hear what I'm saying?

Just house rules, no matter where you go, even in a cave, don't you reckon?

If you visited some privative people, they'd be like, we've got rules here.

Is it just the way it works?

And there is an authority that the evil one has over this house, over this world.

Do you reckon that's true?

Where would you go if you were trying to prove it?

I went straight to Ephesians 2 verse 1, as for you, this is before you were saved.

Paul says you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who were disobedient.

I think there's a house, the house of the world, and it has rules, and it has someone who has authority, and it's the evil one.

2 Corinthians 4 verse 4, Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don't believe.

They are unable to see the glorious light of the good news.

When Satan tricked Adam and Eve, think about it.

Adam and Eve were given the stewardship mandate.

They were meant to be just under God looking after the whole planet.

But something like Esau and Jacob, there was a tricking that went on.

There was a stealing of blessing and of stewardship.

And there's this idea that the evil one now has authority.

The world as in the ideas which drive the culture of the world are built on the foundation of a fallen humanity, which has at its core the lives of the evil one.

What do you reckon?

It's a statement.

Is that a fair statement?

So what happened in the garden has changed humanity and changed the world.

The world always ultimately belongs to the Creator, our God, for sure.

But the reign of sin and death is a reign of evil.

Jesus has come to set captives free from that, from that house.

Matthew 10 verse 8, Jesus says to his disciples, going out into this house of the world, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons, freely you have received, freely give.

In other words, set captives in the house of this world free.

Luke 4, the beginning of Jesus' ministry, he has sent me, Jesus says, God has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners.

And so then we, this is what's leading us into this really important line.

No one can enter a strong man's house without first tying him up, then he can plunder the strong man's house.

Do you think that Jesus might be referring to the house of this world, captives that are in the house, that he wants to set free?

Is it fair, what I'm trying to establish?

So, how important is this idea of a strong man being bound up?

Well, if you did the Revelation study last year, you might remember, for me, I sit in the camp, and there are different ways of understanding Revelation, but for me, I think what makes the most sense is that the millennium of 20, Revelation 20, is a realised millennium.

We're in that millennium.

It's an idea of the time between Jesus first coming to earth and him returning at the end.

We're in the millennium.

And so, if you think about what that means with this, Chapter 20 of Revelation, John writes, I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the abyss and holding in his hand a great chain.

He seized the dragon.

I think this is happening in the first century in the life of Jesus.

He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.

He threw him into the abyss and locked and sealed it over him to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended.

After that, he must be set free for a short time.

I think Satan has been bound.

I think Jesus has done what he said needed to happen.

The strong man needs to be tied up to plunder his house, that is, to rescue people who are caught in those chains of sin.

And now you might say, but isn't Satan at work in the world?

How would you?

Well, can a mafia boss who's in jail do hits on people?

I think, honestly, that's what's happening, that he is limited but incredibly powerful.

And if you read Revelation, that there's a letting go set free for a short time, that all makes sense with the Antichrist and all that language that we looked at last year.

I think that this is actually literally what has happened, that there's a strong man in this house of the world, and he has been tied up because of the stronger man's work.

Amen?

The stronger man's work, Jesus.

Remember, John the Baptist said, one who's coming who is more powerful than me.

And these are all demonstrations of this strength of Jesus, and he's sending people out with authority.

So, again, this is opening up.

I want you to think about it if you can.

What are some of the house rules of the kingdom of this world?

What are some of the house rules?

We're not quite there yet.

That's cool.

Think about it.

Some of the house rules.

Be true to you, I think, is a house rule.

Worship yourself.

Not normally spoken exactly that, but I think that is the vibe of a house rule.

Diversity is ultimate, not good, but ultimate.

I'm not saying they're wrong.

I'm just saying these are house rules that are coming through very strongly.

Live your own truth.

You do you.

Subset underneath this is anger, greed, lust, power, selfishness, as all part of the house rules of the world.

Played out, I would say, in each generation in slightly different iterations.

Wouldn't you agree?

It just looks slightly different, but it's normally the same.

You know what's weird is child sacrifice is still there.

It just happens in different ways, house rules.

If you go with the flow and follow the house rules of this world, you can be heading in a direction that you don't want to be without knowing it.

So in contrast to that, we have the house of the kingdom of God.

Jesus taught so much about living a different way.

House language.

Is this a fair statement to make that there's a house?

The kingdom of God is like a house.

Old Testament is an easy argument.

Psalm 27, One thing I have asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord.

It's very common language.

It's everywhere.

But the house of the Lord language, is it in the New Testament?

Is it in the New Testament?

Well, yeah, it is.

1 Peter 2.5, You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood.

1 Timothy 3, I hope to come to you soon, poor rights, but I'm writing these things to you so that if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God.

House rules.

Jesus says at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, I sort of saw this, tried to aim for explaining this, and I feel like there is a good argument that the kingdom of God is talked about as a house.

Matthew 7 is the end of the Sermon on the Mount, the great unfailing of how to live in the Jesus way.

What's the metaphor, what's the story, the allegory that he ends up with?

A house.

This is all about building a house.

It's either going to be on the rock, your house, or it's going to be on unstable ground.

The rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew and beat against that house, and it didn't fall, because its foundation was on the rock.

So think about it.

What are some of the house rules that we know in the Kingdom of God?

I was talking about house rules in hop.

Be careful with your chalk.

Don't put your weights on the bench.

Don't just grab weights and go crazy.

Stick with the program.

What are the house rules of the Kingdom of God?

I think worship God first.

Love reigns.

Grace is the fuel of life.

We turn other cheeks in this house.

Forgiveness and mercy is evident.

Truth, light, and honesty is normal.

The house rules of the Kingdom say God knows best.

How did Jesus term it?

His house rules, contrasting house rules to the house rules of the Kingdom of the World.

Didn't he say this?

You have heard that it was said, but I tell you.

Guys, this is the way of the Kingdom.

I want to tell you how it works.

Kingdom of God language.

So the third house that I think is in the text.

So you've got the house of the Kingdom of the World, house of the Kingdom of God, and the house of my heritage right there.

I find it fascinating, honestly, in this little vignette of the life of Jesus, in the midst of him teaching about the strong man being restrained.

I mean, it's big stuff, isn't it?

Satan is bound in the abyss, and we're rescuing people with the Gospel.

It's big.

And then mum's out the back.

Mum's out the back saying, Jesus, get back here.

No, I mean it now.

Jesus.

You could see Cal Barron doing a takeoff of it or something.

Jesus, out now.

And Jesus differentiates.

It's like, no, I'm not doing that.

Even though his mum is literally treating him as a kid, I reckon.

House of My Heritage, Peter Scazzaro does fantastic work on this.

He heads up the Emotionally Healthy Brand of Discipleship Training, and he says that line, which I find really great.

As a Christian, we could say, Jesus lives in my heart, but who lives in my bones?

Grandpa.

Sorry, Dave.

Grandpa lives in our bones.

That means I have stuff from my family in me.

The House of My Heritage has rules.

And a big part of discipleship is actually identifying, what are they?

Sometimes we can see what's going on in the House of the Kingdom of the World, but we're unaware of what he calls the unholy Ten Commandments that you were given from your heritage.

Now, this is not to bash our families.

We appreciate our families.

But I'm going to race through quickly.

These are the ones that Peter Casero puts up for his family.

I believe Italian American.

He said, what I was taught for me in my house, house rules was money.

Money is the best source of security.

The more you have, the more important you are.

Make lots of it to prove you made it.

That's what he grew up.

Given as the rules of the house, of the Casero family.

Conflict.

He said, I learned that to avoid it at all costs, don't get people mad at you.

Loud, angry, constant fighting is normal, though.

There were rules about sex.

Sex is not to be spoken about openly.

Men can be promiscuous.

Women must be chased.

Sexuality in marriage will come easily.

Rules.

The Jonathan don't articulate, but rules that he recognizes he was given in his house.

Grief and loss.

Sadness is a sign of weakness.

You're not allowed to be depressed.

Get over losses quickly and move on.

Expressing anger.

Anger is dangerous and bad.

Explode in anger to make a point.

Sarcasm is an acceptable way to release anger.

Unholy commandments.

Family.

You owe your parents for all they've done for you.

Don't speak of your family's dirty laundry in public.

Duty to family and culture comes before everything.

Which is what the Jews believed.

But what did Jesus do in that passage?

It's very interesting what he does.

Counter cultural.

Relationships.

For Pete Scorsero, his family, don't trust people, they will let you down.

Nobody will ever hurt me again.

Don't show vulnerability.

Attitudes toward different cultures.

Only be close friends with people who are like you.

Don't marry a person of another race or culture.

Certain cultures' races are not as good as mine.

What he learned about success, success is getting into the best schools, making lots of money, getting married and having children.

Feeling and emotions.

You're not allowed to have certain feelings.

Your feelings are not important.

Reacting with your feelings without thinking is okay.

Do you get the picture?

It's complex, isn't it?

What we might be living under without even knowing it.

These house rules.

House rules of our heritage are often built around these three.

Temptation 1, I am what I do.

Performance, I've just been taught that.

I am what I have.

Could be in part of your house rules.

I am what others think, popularity.

So you can see how the house of your heritage could be largely shaped by the house of the Kingdom of God, couldn't it?

Or it could be largely shaped by the house of the world.

And so being able to reflect on that is really important.

That's where I got to when I looked at this passage.

I thought, what is the main thing coming out of it for me?

And I just sort of honed in on that idea that Jesus was demonstrating his authority over this house of the strongman.

And he was saying, if you haven't noticed it yet, I am casting out demons one after the other.

I'm setting captives free.

I'm binding this strongman because I'm way stronger.

And I'm going to teach.

Mark doesn't show it as much as Matthew and Luke.

Certainly John shows so much of Jesus' sort of inner circle teaching.

But Jesus teaches how to live the life of the kingdom.

There's a different bunch of rules.

There's a different way of interacting with God and others.

I love this passage in Colossians 1, just in verse 13.

Paul writes, He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness, putting that house of the kingdom of the world.

If you've got faith in Christ, you have been rescued from one house and brought us into the kingdom of the sun.

He loves the kingdom of light, the house of the kingdom of God, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

We're called to live under a new set of rules, amen?

We are.

And just loved hearing some of the band talk about in trying to put in practice Sabbath and put in practice, you know, new house rules.

It's wonderful.

I'm just so glad to see that happening.

I hope many of us are experimenting with how to get the kingdom rules into my house so that the difference isn't as much anymore.

Let me finish with just this passage from Joshua 24, to the end of the Book of Joshua.

Now fear the Lord and serve him with faithfulness.

Joshua says to the people of Israel, throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped.

Throw out the house of your heritage.

That stuff is the house of the world.

There's a new kingdom to follow.

Beyond the Euphrates River in Egypt and serve the Lord.

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you were living.

The gods of this world, the gods of your heritage, you make the choice.

But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Lord Jesus, we're praying and asking you for help.

We feel like we are marinated in the world in ways that we often don't even know are happening to us.

And we so appreciate community and your Word and your Spirit moving amongst a canvas of colour.

Would you help us as a faith community here become more and more a group of people that represent the house rules of the Kingdom of God?

And live in such a way that others see your reality, the authenticity of our faith, that they might see a joy in the way that we live that points all the glory back to you, Lord Jesus.

Lord, we're sorry where we've taken on the house rules of the Kingdom of the World without knowing it.

We've been uncritical.

We've just taken it on board, and then that's become our house.

I thank you, Lord, for your mercy.

It's new tonight.

Thank you that you call sinners and you make us saints.

You called the broken and the failed, and you grant us freedom, forgiveness and victory.

Lord, would you set captives free?

Would you start tonight, take us on a journey towards the house of freedom that you have designed for us.

Lord, I just remember the house rule that you said, if the sun sets you free, you'll be free indeed.

And we look to you for freedom in Jesus name.

Amen.

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