God’s Household

By Mr Danny Chua

This year, I have been especially thinking about God’s Household. This is a phrase that comes from 1 Timothy 3:1-7, where the Apostle Paul instructs us on the qualifications for overseers (or elders and pastors in our context). 

As you might have heard last year, the Lord has led our church leaders and led me to explore the process of ordination for pastoral ministry. Yes, the formal process includes a few important matters such as council meetings with various BPCIS pastors. The process also requires me to reflect upon and write some short papers on ministry and theology. 

However, nothing is perhaps more formative for my heart than reflecting on this little passage in 1 Timothy 3. I have even taken a step further to read this letter with others in my 1-to-1 Bible reading friendships! The overseer, or elder/pastor-to-be must seriously grapple with what the Lord requires of those who under-shepherd His flock. 

There are many qualifications in this passage that seem daunting to me. One of them is this – which Paul dedicates the most words to: “He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?” (3:4-5). 

To be honest, there are so many ways in which I don’t do these things well. Despite 7 years of marriage, and 4 years of parenthood, I often find myself stumbling in how to manage my household in a godly way, shepherd and love my wife well, discipline and parent my children in a gospel way. 

By the grace of God, and the Gospel that tells me “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” like myself (1 Tim 1:15), I trust that our Father will grow me in these areas with much prayer and discipline. Hopefully, this comes also with much help and support from many of my fellow brothers and sisters, and co-workers in this church family of course! 

And so, week after week, and month after month, I continue to pray this for myself, and I continue to ask my church family to pray this for me and for my family too. As I grow in this, and indeed as each of our elders and pastors grow in these matters, we will hopefully have many mini gospel households that reflect God’s desired household. In the end, may Zion Bishan be a household of God filled with many mini households that “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.” (3:15).