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Sunday Worship – June 1, 2025

God’s Master Plan: The Church in Your Home (1) <Ezekiel 11:16> 

When we think of “church,” we often picture a building with a cross on top. However, the Bible defines the church as the place where God’s presence dwells and where God’s people gather. The true beginning of the church was in the home. From Genesis to Acts, and even today, God designed the church to begin within the family, to be passed down through generations, and to expand to all nations. This is God’s master plan for the salvation of humanity and the establishment of His Kingdom. 

1. The Beginning of the Covenant Family – God Works Through the Family 

In the very first scene of creation, we see God's amazing plan for humanity. In Genesis 1:28, God says to Adam and Eve:

“Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

This command is God’s holy plan and calling for the family to be the channel through which His dominion and Word would be passed to every generation and all the nations. This command was repeated to Noah, and again when God called Abraham: “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you… I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing” (Genesis 12:1–2).

As the “father of faith,” Abraham was to be a model of a covenant family that would pass down faith from generation to generation. In the covenant God made with Abraham, He gave him not only a personal calling, but also the mission to teach and pass on God’s covenant to his descendants: “I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come…” (Genesis 17:7).

In this way, God designed that faith would be passed down through the family, and His Kingdom would be extended through it.

After the Exodus, just before entering the land of Canaan, Moses reminded the people of God’s law and commanded the next generation: “These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deuteronomy 6:6–7).

This was a declaration that the home must be the central place for faith formation if the people of Israel were to live as a Word-centered community in the Promised Land. The “four moments” (when you rise, when you walk, when you sit at home, and when you lie down) are not just times of the day, but represent every moment of daily life. God’s command is to live by His Word in every part of life. God's master plan is still valid today. When parents teach the Word in the home and pass it down to their children and descendants, that home becomes a covenant community—and through it, God’s Kingdom is realized here on earth. 

2. The Exodus and the Temple Era:
Even with the rise of public worship, faith education still belongs to the home. 

After rescuing the Israelites from Egypt and leading them through the wilderness, God made a covenant with them and established them as His people. In this process, a system of public worshipfor the entire community was instituted and developed. God commanded: “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you.” (Exodus 25:8–9)

The Tabernacle was the fulfillment of God’s promise to dwell among His people. It was the place of God's presence during their wilderness journey—where sacrifices, atonement, and the restoration of relationship with God occurred through public worship. However, one essential truth must be emphasized: the establishment of the Tabernacle did notdiminish the role of the family. A key example that demonstrates this is the observance of the Passover. In Exodus 12, God does not command the Passover to be celebrated at the Tabernacle, but within the home. Each family was to prepare a lamb, apply its blood on the doorposts, and eat the meal together: “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants… It is the Lord’s Passover.” (Exodus 12:24–27)

This scene is one of the most symbolic and tangible examples of family worshipin the Old Testament. The blood on the doorposts signifies that the grace of redemption must be imprinted on each home. The shared meal represents the redemptive event becoming a communal memory. The command to explain it to the children shows that faith must be explainedand understoodby the next generation. In other words, the Passover reveals that the home is meant to be the site of worship and the center of faith education. This principle continues even to this day.

Later, during Solomon’s reign, the Temple was built, and Israel’s worship took a more centralized, structured form: “Hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place.” (1 Kings 8)

The Temple was indeed a holy place established by God—a national center where Israel worshiped as one people. However, even the Temple was never intended to replace the role of the home in teaching God’s Word and raising children in reverence. The command of Deuteronomy 6 still applied—faith had to be passed down through the mouths of parents within their households. Notably, during the annual feasts, families would travel together to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices. This tradition illustrates that public worship and home-based faith were meant to function in partnership.

God renews His covenant with His people and pours out grace through corporate worship, such as our Sunday services. But the applicationof His Word, life transformation, and the transmission of faith to the next generation—these were always meant to take place in the home. 

Reading Scripture to your children, praying over their lives, and teaching them what God has done—this is the very heart of God’s design for faith education. God commanded the building of the Tabernacle and permitted the construction of the Temple. But He neverdelegated the responsibility of raising children in the Word to the Tabernacle or the Temple.

Even today, God is speaking to us: “You must tell your children what I have done!” “Is my name being worshiped in your home?” May our homes once again become living sanctuaries of the Word and worship. May parents be restored as pastors of their households, according to God’s master plan. 

3. The Exilic Period: Even when the visible temple was destroyed, the church in the home did not fall. 

In 586 BC, when the Babylonian empire destroyed the temple in Jerusalem, it marked what seemed to be the collapse of Israel’s core spiritual identity. The temple was the symbol of God’s presence and the center of worship. Its destruction left the people wondering: “Has God abandoned us?”“Has our faith lost its foundation?”—a deep sense of despair overwhelmed the nation.

Yet astonishingly, in the midst of that despair, faith grew deeper and more embedded into the everyday life of God’s people. Why? Because God is not confined to a building. He dwelled in the homes, at the dinner tables, and in the prayers of His people. The Jews in exile were called to worship God without a temple. As a result, they developed public gatherings centered around synagogues, and at the same time, a home-centered worship culture—a return to the original form of worship rooted in Scripture—emerged.

At home, parents repeatedly read and explained the Torah to their children. They prayed three times a day at set hours, and they sang songs of praise. On Friday evenings, marking the beginning of the Sabbath, Jewish fathers would bless their children, light candles, and share God’s Word with the family. The dinner table became a place of thanksgiving and divine encounter. In this way, the table became the altar, and the parents, especially the father, became the priest—teaching the Word, remembering God’s saving acts, and interceding for the children.

This was not a reaction of mere survival but a deeply spiritual realization of how to worship in a world without the temple. Though the physical temple had fallen, God still dwelt among those who kept His Word, remembered His covenant, and prayed in their homes.

The Book of Ezekiel presents a powerful vision of God’s presence returning—even in exile. In Ezekiel 11:16, God says: “Although I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, yet for a little while I have been a sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.”

God declared that He Himself would become their sanctuary. In other words, the home became the sanctuary, and where His Word dwelt, that became the church. The exiles came to understand the true meaning of the temple—not as a building, but as the dwelling of God's presence wherever His people honor His covenant.

This tradition of home worship during the exile carried into the time of Jesus. Jesus Himself learned the Law in the home during His youth and grew up participating in Sabbath worship and family rituals. In the Gospels, we often see Jesus visiting people’s homes, teaching, and sharing fellowship around the table. The faith practices strengthened during the exile became the foundation for the spiritual life of the early Church.

Even when church buildings fall or sanctuaries close, the home remains the place where God’s Word is preserved and His Kingdom advances. Many Christians today tend to confine their faith to Sundays and leave their homes spiritually unguarded—treated merely as secular spaces. But God’s work has always begun in the home. The seeds of faith must be planted at the table. The Word of the Gospel must be proclaimed in a child’s bedroom. Discipleship must be modeled through the daily lives of parents.

When our homes are governed by God’s Word, breathe through worship, and move in mission, they cease to be ordinary residences—they become churches where the Kingdom of God begins. Though the structure of the family has changed over generations, God’s strategy has remained the same. 

Testimony from Pastor Seo Jung-oh of Dongsung Church: “As my daughters grew up, they experienced pressure and judgmental eyes from some within the church community. Because of a few such people, I didn’t want to add to their stress as their father and pastor. So, as they got older, I couldn’t bring myself to insist on family worship. In the end, we didn’t do it properly. But that doesn’t mean my daughters have abandoned their faith. They love the Lord and live with integrity. Still, I sometimes feel heartache over the fact that I didn’t help them develop the habit of kneeling in prayer in critical moments. I think I failed. No matter how hard it was at the time, I should have made them sit down, kneel together, and trained them in prayer. Now I repent for that.” 

Testimony from Elder Ko Jung-min (Chairman of the Gospel Wave): “I worked as a strategic planner in an advertising agency for 18 years. In Korea, we are exposed to about 300 ads per day, but none of them speak about Jesus or the gospel. That’s when I realized that I should use the talents God gave me—not for myself, but for God. That’s how I came to start advertising God. We began to run gospel-centered ads in various places, including major newspapers like Chosun Ilbo and Donga Ilbo. At first, people said I was crazy more than they praised the work. But as time went on, we witnessed many people come to faith. We placed gospel messages at bus stops, on shopping carts—creating opportunities for people to encounter Jesus. Then we decided to go global by advertising in New York’s Times Square. But the contract required 150 million won (approx. $115,000 USD). Coincidentally, I had been saving that exact amount to send my son abroad for one year. After praying, I decided to use that money for the ad campaign instead. And God provided—my son was accepted into a school with a full four-year scholarship.

That’s when I realized, with goosebumps: When we make choices that please God, He takes responsibility for the outcome.

Then a thought struck me: What would happen if we lifted up our family to God in a way that pleases Him?
What kind of blessing would God pour out if we lived according to His original design for the home?