9.2 Rooms Inside and Out
© 2018 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
Symmorphic with His glorious body (Philippians 3:21) has another name in the New Testament used by both Paul and John – koinonia. Koinonia is our symmorphy together.
In spite of any strength of word in the last lesson, that which is Christ is ONLY that which arises spontaneously from each one’s heart. Even though Christ is always all, yet, at the same time, Christ lives as each one of us BEFORE He lives as us together as one body. We judge nothing before the time, but rather, we bear with one another in each one’s unique perspective on and spontaneous giving of Christ AS them.
An Outline. Our question is how does Jesus use Ephesians 3:17-19 to build us together in the local church as Father’s Home?
First, let’s bring in the points from Patterns of Home regarding “creating rooms inside and out.” Following that, we will set out some of the things found in Ephesians 3:17-19 – clearly speaking of a “house” since the Greek word oikos, to dwell, is the ruling verb of the verse. Once we have found the points, then we will spend a bit of time on whatever glorious things we discover. Finally, in the next lesson, I want to bring all these things out of present vagueness into a practical consideration of designing life together in a local Community of Christ.
Mapping the Rooms. Basically, an architect, having planted the knowing of the site, it’s layout and character, into his understanding, then takes a map of that site and begins to place the various “rooms” of human occupation, here and there, according to the principles of “inhabiting the site.” These rooms can be standard indoor rooms like kitchen and bedrooms, outdoor rooms like a private garden, and rooms in-between like a patio or a screened porch.
The architect cannot begin to do this, however, unless he knows the people who will be living in that house even better than he knows the site. The architect must learn the interests and ways of doing of the family that will call this house their home.
A Balance of Rooms. Let’s draw in, now, the points from Patterns of Home regarding creating rooms inside and out, first the main intent.
A house, by its very presence on the site, creates outdoor rooms as well as indoor rooms. And the outdoor rooms should be as well considered and as well proportioned as the indoor rooms. In a well-designed house, there is a lively balance of indoor and outdoor rooms, and the two types of spaces form a kind of interlocking checkerboard on the site.
What makes this pattern so compelling is the fundamental idea that the critical rooms of a house, the rooms most used and treasured, are outside as well as in; and that, unless a house is conceived from the beginning as shaping both kinds of rooms the outdoor rooms end up as leftover spaces…
- Let the location of the indoor rooms shape the outdoor rooms, both the natural outdoor rooms partially created by the site and the new ones created entirely by the building.
- Imagine the entire site as a sequence of roomlike places, a checkered pattern of indoor and outdoor spaces.
- The sequence of rooms will have a natural hierarchy: Some will be large, more important, and more central; others will be supportive and transitional. Some will be for cars and people; others will be for people only. Make them all part of the pattern and make sure none is useless, leftover space.
- Use wings of the buildings, exterior walls, outbuildings, and breezeways to help create the basic pattern; use plantings, low walls, terraces, and furnishings to underscore and strengthen the pattern.
First, know the people who will be living in the home, their habits and interests, their tastes and occupations. Know how they live and how they pattern their daily living. Then, second, design the rooms and their layout, inside and out, to fit the personalities and actions of the family who will be living in the house.
Father’s Role. And third, do not see the rooms, indoors or out, as lines on the paper, but sit in them, in your mind’s eye, and see each room as a living and breathing space of warmth and purpose. Then, design each room in its dimensions and orientation, its purpose and functionality to serve the family making use of that space in their ongoing expression of life.
This final exercise is actually Father’s role in the building of His House, for Romans 8:30 tells us that His House is finished from the beginning. Even during the unfolding of the construction of that finished House, Father is there, sitting in His easy chair, enjoying the view out the windows, and calling all things into their already completed place.
Seven Actions. Let’s list seven points in action form regarding creating rooms inside and out. I will intersperse my added thoughts among those from Patterns of Home.
1. Know the family who will live in the home, their enjoyments and the actions of their daily living. 2. Imagine the entire site as a series of room-like spaces. 3. Design the rooms, indoors and out, to fit the flow of the people living there. 4. Let the location of the indoor rooms shape the outdoor rooms. 5. Give the layout of spaces a natural hierarchy of order, with no leftover space. 6. Use the elements of room boundaries to shape the pattern of the home. 7. Design each individual room, inside and out, to fulfill its purpose in the life of the family, in full relationship with all adjoining spaces.
Faith. I am sitting here thinking of Ephesians 3:17-19 as these seven points give it focus and meaning, and I am seeing so many wondrous things.
Just for instance, we now have a new definition of faith. Faith – living and thinking, acting and speaking AS IF everything is already finished, regardless of any construction “mess.” – Christ lives in my heart through faith. Or, we could say it this way, “Sinless perfection fills all that is my heart because I believe that He does, regardless of any outward appearance.”
But let’s create a series of points regarding the second most important verse in the Bible.
Ephesians 3:17-19.
1. Know the Christ who dwells in your heart and know the Father who fills you full.
2. Believe and speak as if all things are finished, regardless of any outward appearance.
3. Be rooted and grounded deeply into love; root all things of design and purpose into the certainty of the love of God.
4. Work together with other believers in Jesus to know the dimensions and shape, the purpose and functionality of every room in Father’s house, indoors and out.
5. In your working together with other believers, KNOW the love of Christ, a reciprocal love, a love flowing back and forth, a love thus far unknown among humans on this earth.
Marriage of Heaven and Earth.
6. Assume with all confidence that Father already fills you full with all that He is, you as an individual as well as you together with the local brethren. Live in the certainty that it is Father expressing Himself through your every moment and circumstance, doing what Father does, reconciling all to Himself.
Now, at the end of the chapter in Patterns of Home, the authors include this heading of their final paragraph. “Creating Rooms: A Marriage of Inside and Out.” And thus I will add this seventh point.
7. Knowing that Father’s House and our Home is heaven/earth back together in the full marriage union that is LIFE, design everything in life together to include the heavens merged with the earth, Spirit filling flesh, the Word made visible.
Seven More Actions. Let’s reduce these a bit.
1. Know the Father and Jesus Sent living inside of us together. 2. Believe all things are finished. 3. Root and ground all things in love. 4. Comprehend the rooms of God’s House together with other believers. 5. Love one another. 6. Know all of God in you reconciling all to Himself. 7. Live in heaven and earth together fully in all things.
I’ve said it before; let me say it again. As a builder of community and a designer of homes, as a teacher and writer, I have never considered anything more glorious to me than this application of the ten most important verses of the Bible to our life together in Christian Community in the pattern of a Home for Father and for us.
A Very Lively God. So what have we uncovered thus far?
First, we see that Ephesians 3:17-19 is not static, but active. It is not just describing essence, but the actions of a very lively God inside our daily life together. Jesus is not just “sitting” in our hearts; He is living His life in our hearts. Father is not just filling us full; He is energeoing away as Himself in every particle of our daily experience.
In my community experience, the bottom line of our thinking was what we do to get Father to fill our life together with His presence and to keep Him there. That very darkness is what kept us ever from knowing Father filling us full now.
Speaking Our Faith. We walk by faith and NOT by sight. That means that in every interaction of brethren together in the local church, our only thought is, “Wow, Father, this is how You are revealing Yourself. Through this interaction, good, bad, or indifferent, You are reconciling the cosmos to Yourself.”
In my community experience (as in most of Christian experience) being rooted and grounded in Love was something to aspire to (someday) rather than the foundation upon which we took our every step. You see, I can talk about these things only because I have tasted. I have never actually lived in real Church.
Stone with Stone. The “construction” of God’s House is pictured in the Bible as the placing of stones in the temple wall. Consider stones side by side and above and below. Each stone is fitted perfectly to match the stones around it. Some Inca stone work is so fine that, without any mortar, there is no space whatsoever between the large stones.
Here is something I have tasted. When you walk together through many difficult things over many years with the same brothers and sisters, you come to KNOW them and they you. Christ life is knowing one another as we know ourselves and as we know Father and Jesus Sent.
Yet God has also given us the picture of a flock of birds, and thus we could say that no matter how often the stones around us change, we still fit perfectly.
What Is Reciprocal Love? Comprehend with all the saints what – are the dimensions and purpose of every room in God. That doesn’t mean agreeing to the same theology; it means that there is a knowing of the extent of God that comes only through the gathering together. And that knowing comes, not through occasional gatherings, but through knowing one another in the daily grind.
When I look at the Greek words Paul used in verses 18-19, I see that they give place for the experience of reciprocal love as an essential part of – to know even more the surpassing knowledge of the love of Christ. What is reciprocal love? We have tasted, to be sure, but just.
Many as One. That “you” being filled with all the fulness of God must be singular and personal before it ever could be many. Nonetheless, the “you” is plural as well.
It is the Body of Christ that is filled with all of God in Person, revealing Himself. Thus for us to know the full extent of being filled with all of God, we must know it together, and we must know it in knowing one another. I see now that “fullness” means many together as one.
What is it like, to walk together as Christ with Christ, knowing all the fullness of God through our interaction together? What does it mean to know one another as God knows us?
Gone to Church. Many will give their full answer to these questions with – “Well, we’ll know what it means in the sweet by and by,” a response that silences all interest in knowing.
Death teaches no one to know the Lord.
Jesus said, “That where I am, there you may be also.” Then He said, “Know that I am in the Father.” Great. To know Jesus, all we have to do is find where Father is.
And where is Father? Father has gone to Church.
Father lives in His House, in all the many rooms, you and me, and in all our interaction together. The Church, which is His Body, the fullness of Jesus who fills all in all.