Should a Church Meet in a House or a Building? - Ask Pastor Tim

"Dear Brother Tim,

Please excuse my English
which is very bad."

This comes from Nadia from Madagascar.

"Is the concept of church buildings

(going to a church - the building)

every Sunday -

that is the way most Christians

work to assemble biblical?"

So it's a question.

There's a question mark
at the end of this.

"Is the concept of church buildings -

the way most Christians assemble -

is that biblical?

Going to a church - the
building - every Sunday?

In the light of Scriptures,

Holy Spirit, and prayer,

God revealed to me that it wasn't

and that we have to return

to the biblical assembling -

the home church,

taught by Jesus Christ and the Apostles.

Jesus didn't tell us to build

nor to name buildings
where we had to assemble.

Even when 3,000 people were converted

the day of Pentecost,

they didn't say, oh,
let's go build a building.

I've discovered also that
all this way of assembling

are inherited from paganism,

Roman, and Athenian traditions."

So she asks the question,

but then before she gives anybody

time to answer it,

she says that Scripture, Holy Spirit,

and prayer - God has revealed to her

that it wasn't correct and right.

So I think she's not actually -

I don't get the feeling

that she's asking about
or asserting herself

as to whether or not buildings

should be called churches.

Certainly, the church is the people -

not the building,

but that doesn't seem to be her issue.

Her issue seems to be

with buildings altogether.

Her issue seems to be:

Is it right and appropriate

to buy a building for a church -

the church being the people -

to come together and meet in.

She says that Scripture,

Holy Spirit, and prayer -

through all those means, God has revealed

that it wasn't

and that we have to return

to the biblical assembling -

the home church -

taught by Jesus Christ and the Apostles.

So she's making that assertion,

but let's ask that question.

(incomplete thought)

When I read questions,

I don't just buy into their assertions.

We need to step back and ask

if their presuppositions are correct.

Are they right?

Are they biblical?

She is saying that Jesus
Christ and the Apostles

taught that the only proper way

for the church to meet is in the home.

So, we don't need to spend
a whole lot of time on this.

But let's think.

Here's one thing we can lay down.

Jesus Himself never anywhere in Scripture

taught that the church when it assembled,

when two or three gathered
together in His name,

you had to do it in a home.

Nor did He say you had to buy a building.

He simply is silent on the matter.

He doesn't deal with it.

You cannot come up with a verse

where Jesus Christ discusses this.

So what do we have?

What we have is the book of Acts.

Because I can tell you this as well,

there is no place in any of the epistles,

and I'll include the book of Acts,

that demands that we meet

in any specific location.

There is no commandment.

There is no mandate.

It doesn't exist.

What we have is the
example of the early church -

primarily the book of Acts,

but there are some places
in the epistles as well

where indeed we're told where they met.

Let's look at some of those.

The first thing I want you
to think about is this:

Acts 2:42. Let's turn there.

Acts 2:42.

Whoever gets there, read it to me.

Acts 2:42.

"And they continued steadfastly

in the Apostles' doctrine
and the fellowship,

and the breaking of bread and prayers."

How far did you want me to read?

Tim: Now see, hold your place.

That text tells us
what the early church did.

And what did they do? Four things.

(from the room)

Doctrine, fellowship,
breaking of bread, and prayers.

Tim: They gave themselves
to the Apostles' doctrine,

to what?

(from the room) Breaking of bread.

Tim: Breaking of bread.

(from the room) Prayers.

Tim: Prayer.

And that's not the right order, brother.

What's the exact Spirit-given order?

(from the room)

They continued steadfastly

in the Apostles' doctrine (Tim: right),

fellowship, breaking of
bread, and then prayer.

Tim: There you go.

Now, go down to v. 46.

What does it say?

"So continuing daily with
one accord in the temple,

and breaking bread from house to house..."

Tim: Okay. Stop.

Where did they meet?

(from the room) House to house.

Tim: Before that.

In the temple and...

where did they break bread?

House to house.

Now see, again, there's no mandate.

There's no commandment.

There's no imperative

with regards to one or the other.

Now what was the temple?

The temple was a public place.

The temple was a public building.

They met there.

We don't know how long
the early church met there,

but they met there.

Jesus often met there and would teach,

but the Christians
gathered together there.

They also gathered
together house to house.

Let me ask you this.

Paul - remember this? Acts 20?

When he brings the elders
from Ephesus together?

Remember, he's at Miletus.

He's on his way to Jerusalem.

He calls together the Ephesian elders,

and he says this:

I have been faithful to you guys.

And I taught publicly

and from house to house.

Let me ask you something.

See how well you know your Bibles.

When Paul was in Ephesus,

where did he teach publicly?

(unintelligible)

Now he did that.

He did that in the synagogues,

but see, it doesn't really say

that the churches - the church -

gathered together in the synagogue.

But when he was at Ephesus

and he taught publicly,

where did he do it?

One place specifically
that we're told about

that he did it for two years.

It kind of sounds like a dinosaur.

Anybody know? Amy, you know?

The Hall of one Tyrannus.

Tyrannus - he basically
gathered the saints together

and taught in a school.

So here's my point.

The early church in the temple

and house to house.

When he's at Ephesus publicly -

at least one of the public places

was in the school of Tyrannus,

and then house to house.

Are we specifically told
that you have to do it publicly

or that you have to do it house to house?

Now look, it's true that when
we go through Scripture,

we have accounts of the church that met -

can anybody give me examples?

The church that met in whose house?

(from the room) Philemon?

Tim: In Philemon you've got it.

Somebody look it up in Philemon.

Philemon 1:2 - Somebody look that up

and read that.

"And Apphia our sister

and Archippus our fellow soldier,

and the church in your house..."

Tim: The church in your house.

You could go to Romans 16.

You're going to get this idea

of people meeting in a house.

Collosians 4:15,

1 Corinthians 16:9. It's true.

There were churches that
met in people's houses.

But let me ask you this question:

1 Corinthians 14:23.

Somebody want to read that?

"Therefore if the whole church assembles,

and all speak in tongues..."

Tim: Now just stop right there.

When the whole church,

or if the whole church assembles -

what church?

Who's he writing to right there?

1 Corinthians 14 - who's he writing to?

The church at Corinth.

Can I ask you this?

You remember in the book of Acts

when Paul went to Corinth?

Jesus Christ Himself spoke to him.

Do you remember what He said to him?

"Many people..." He had many people.

Do you know how many people were saved?

(incomplete thought)

You guys can tell me what
you think "many people" is.

Is this many people?

This many people can fit in a house.

I have a feeling the church at Corinth

was quite a bit bigger
than this many people.

I think when Jesus told Paul,

"I have many people in that city,"

I think He meant a whole
lot more than this.

And he talks there in 1 Corinthians 14:23

about the whole church coming together.

Where would they do that?

Brethren, there's no commandment

where they need to do that.

Where would they do it?

Well, look historically.

Where have people done it?

People have met in barns.

People have met in homes.

People have met outside.

(from the room) Burger restaurants.

Tim: People have met
in burger restaurants.

The Covenanters would meet

out in secluded, hidden areas.

Brethren, throughout history people

have met where they can.

There's nothing in
Scripture that forbids us

to meet in a building

or to purchase a building
for the church to meet in.

That's not prohibited.

It's not as though there's some holy aura

about meeting in the homes.

They met in the temple,

the lecture hall of Tyrannus.

There just simply isn't anything
in Scripture that mandates.

So, listen, that's legalistic

to demand that we
meet one place or the other.

To demand it -

it's just simply not
mandated in Scripture.

We're free there.

We're free to meet
where it's conducive to meet.

Okay, next one...