Chosen Glory

Summary

Oikos is a Greek word that includes the meaning of living in community: But encompasses so much more.

In this teaching I share the vision that the Most High gave me many years ago regarding the importance of His people practicing oikos and my resulting personal passion and pursuit for it.

Here I discuss the importance of love as the greatest commandment and how love finds it’s righteous expression in oikos.

I also highlight the sad misconception of “church” buildings and how they have been mistaken for something they aren’t.

I explain and emphasize the critical importance of building a new, relational family (oikos) bound together by the blood of Yeshua.

I invite you to explore the beautiful context of oikos in the Bible, and how Elohim has made this provision for YOU to experience.

This is a lesson to help all of us personally embrace the importance of oikos, and the role that the Divine oikos should play in our lives.

Transcript with minor changes for readability

00:00 Introduction
I want to share a subject with you that is near and dear to my Heart. Some of us have Heard me speak on this before. It’s the subject of oikos.

There are a few reasons shy this is so important to me. I’ll go into one of those reasons in a little bit. But probably the foundational reason is because it’s the heart of the Most High Elohim, God.

In Matthew 22:36-39, Yeshua, Jesus, was asked, “what is the greatest commandment”? The answer that He gave to those pharisees was “love”. Love is the greatest commandment. Love Elohim with all your heart, soul, all of your might, everything that you have: And then love your neighbor as you love yourself. As you continue to love yourself, continue to love your neighbor.

And so how do we do that? How do we love Elohim? How do we love our neighbor? Well, that is accomplished through the venue of oikos. It’s foundational to all of Scripture. And oikos, for a reason that you’ll see in just a little bit, is foundational to our ministry here at Chosen Glory.

So, what I’m about to say, at this point, may sound a little offensive, and so I’m going to ask you to please just kind of bear with me and allow me to finish my thought before you draw any conclusions.

In regards to oikos, in short, oikos is a community of loving, righteous, godly relationships. within the family of Elohim, with Elohim as its head.

The purpose of this teaching then is to expound a little upon what oikos means, and a little bit about what it looks like.

02:30 But before I go any further, (this is primarily what I was referring to earlier wHen I was talking about, bear with me just for a minute because this might sound a little bit offensive) let me say that oikos is a little bit difficult to explain because it’s kind of like explaining the color blue to a blind person.

Now as I mentioned before, please don’t be offended. What I mean by that is almost no one, that I know of anyway, has experienced oikos in a full, Biblical sense. It’s a bit like chasing the elusive sasquatch. You might see a glimpse of it here or there, someone may claim to photograph it, but noone really knows for sure if any of it is real.

Lots of us have experienced oikos, but not necessarily in the godly, Biblical sense. And that, sadly, even includes myself. So, that’s why I asked you to please don’t be offended.

The second reason that oikos is so important to me is almost as profound as the first. That is; I know that oicos is a valid, Biblical concept. And I know that it is possible to achieve because the Most High has shown me that it’s possible. He showed it to me in a vision that He gave me many years ago in regards to how His people are to live.

Let me share with you what I mean by that. Many years ago, when I was just receiving the call into ministry, I was reading along in the book of Acts in the middle of the night. There I saw how the people of God functioned, lived, existed, maneuvered, related to one another, and loved one another. I remember going and waking my wife up at one o’clock in the morning and telling her that the churches have it all wrong and that we’re not supposed to be meeting like we were in large groups with everybody sitting in pews looking at the back of the head in front of them. It was a real revelation to me. I could see it; envision it.

05:24 Let me share with you what I mean by that. Several years ago, we had some good friends who have since moved out of the area that we’re in. They were saddle makers and leather repair people.

I had a saddle that needed attention, and so I took my saddle to them. I had seen their business card on a bulletin board at the feed store and so I called them and made arrangements bring my saddle in. They had a very nice leather shop on their farm.

But at the time, I had never seen them before. I had never talked to them before. I had no idea who they were, where they were, or what they were about. All I knew was that they hadn’t been on their property for very long.

But eventhough I had never spoken to them, and eventhough the property was not fully developed, as I was pulling into their driveway I could see the vision that God had given them by the way they had the property laid out. When I asked them about it they were stunned. As I said, they had only been there a short time and they hadn’t shared their vision with anyone.

It is in this way that I could see and envision the Heart of God in regards to oikos in the middle of the night so long ago. I yearn for it. I want to experience it. But sadly, even after many years of of trying, I’ve just not been able to communicate and transfer that vision to others as well as I would like.

08:05 Let me explain to you one reasont that it is so difficult for people to understand and receive the vision that the Most High gave me regarding Small Group oikos.

As people who are seeking the Most High we have a desire to know Him. And so we find a neighborhood church, we participate in its activities, and we do what we’re told to do. We arrive at the building at the exact time that we’re supposed to, we sit down when we’re told to sit down, and we stand when we’re told to stand. We sit quietly when we’re told to sit quietly, we leave as soon as we can, and on and on it goes.

This is the existance that is bred into Christians generation after generation. That is what they’re told someone does who desires “God”.

10:12 And so, if you’ve been a part of the Christian “church” in America, that is almost certainly the routine that you have experienced.

One term that has been utilized to identify this kind of routine is “Program-Based Church”.

You’ve heard of things like this before: “Church” is on sun-day, Monday is movie night. Tuesday is visitation night. Wednesday is the midweek meeting. Thursday is the planning or committee meeting, and Friday is bowling night. Oh, you might get Saturday off. But then on the day of worshiping the sun, SUNday, it starts all over again.

There’s a saying: “All hat and no cattle.” In other words, it’s just a big show but there’s no substance to it.

A primary reason that so few people can embrace the concept of oikos is because of the programming that they have received from “Program-Based “Churches””.

When you hear the word “church”, what do you think of? In most cases, it’s a building. In most cases, when you hear the word “church”, you think of a building.

You might be an exception but in most cases, if a person thinks of anything more than that then you probably start thinking about programs: Everyone dressing up in their finest, arriving at the same time, and then you hear the lecture, and then maybe you think of one of the almost infinite number of programs as I mentioned above.


12:59 Now I want to make it clear that, as a ministry, I have no problem with buildings. We’ve met, in commercial buildings on occasion, on an as-needed basis. Homes, where most Small Gorups meet are buildings.

However, 1 Peter 2:5 says that you are also, as a living stone, being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to Elohim through Yeshua the Messiah.

Allow me to say that again. 1 Peter 2:5, You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house. See, YOU are the house that is referred to in the Bible in many cases.

You’ve probably heard the word Ecclesia before. The English word “church” is translated from the Greek word “Ecclesia”: The word “Ecclesia” that is often translated into the English word “church” means “The called out ones”. It’s not a building. The church is not a building: It’s people.

The word “church” is only found in the Renewed Covenant (New Testament). If you were to research that word you would find that not one time does it refer to a building. EVERY time the word is used it is referring to people.

That is why it is clear that in Matthew 16:18, when Yeshua said, “I will build my church”, He wasn’t talking about a wooden or clay structure. He was referring to His people. This is similar to what we see in Ephesians 2:21 where we read “In whom the whole building, the whole building, the WHOLE building being fitted together, growing into a holy temple of Elohim.

Again, referring to the people. Hebrews 3:6, Messiah is the son of Elohim; He is in charge of Elohim’s HOUSE (oikos). We are Elohim’s house. We are God’s house. His people are the house (oikos) of God.

We see the same thing in Ephesians 4. Here, Apostle Paul, the writer of Ephesians, begins to transition into the foundations of the REAL church, the foundation of the people of God.

Of course, Yeshua the Messiah is the Chief Cornerstone: He is what EVERYTHING rests upon. But upon the Chief Cornerstone the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher are laid as the foundation for the rest of God’s people; His house (oikos).

Ephesians 4:11-12 “He gave some to be apostles, some prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the working of the ministry, for the building up, the building up of the body of Messiah.

Ephesians 5:23: For the husband is the head of the wife as the Messiah is Head of the “called out ones”, the “church.

When you come into the family of God you come from the other side, the secular, the pagan, the ungodly side of the population, and then the Scriptures actually use the word “rescued”. You were “rescued”. You’re rescued from doom and brought into the oikos (house) of the Most High.

Colossians 1:13
For He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and translated, or transferred, us into the Kingdom of His dear Son.

17:53 So when that happens, we begin to develop a new oikos, a new house, a new relational family that is actually bound together by the blood of Yeshua.

When you were raised up into your biological family (oikos), you were told that your name is Smith, or Jones, or whatever it might be.

So as part of the Jones family, that identity became a very real, and very important part of you. Well, the Scriptures indicate that when you are brought into the family of Elohim, you are translated FROM everything in the world and you are brought INTO the family (oikos) of Elohim: into the the oikos of the Most High. What binds you together then is the very blood of Yeshua.

Where you were born into the DNA of your biological family, now you’re translated into something far, far more eternal. Or maybe I should just say something that is eternal because your biological family and everything else in the world is not eternal, but the blood, the DNA and family of the Most High IS eternal.

And so again, we’re talking about oikos. In the relationship, and in the context of the family of Elohim, oikos is everlasting. It is unbreakable. It is eternal. Praise God.

And so back to this word oikos. If you’re familiar with the Strong’s Concordance, oikos is Strong’s number G3624. Now it CAN mean a building. But the word oikos has a double meaning. For example, consider the word “window”. You can say “window” as in the window of a house. Or you could say “a window of opportunity”; meaning a time frame. The word has a double meaning.

There are many words like that. oikos is one. Yes it CAN mean a brick and mortar building. It can also, just as legitimately mean a family, a relational unit. In fact, in Acts 16:31, we read “Believe in the Master, Yeshua, and you will be saved, you and your oikos / household.

So, you can see, in this context the word oikos has nothing to do with a physical structure. In reality it doesn’t matter where the oikos, the family lives. The focal point is the people who live in the structure. And so, this is our context of oikos today.

Oikos is a family. Ephesians 2:20-22 says that Elohim’s family is like a house and you are a part of the building.

Yeshua is the Chief Cornerstone, the Apostles and Prophets are the foundation that is laid upon the Cornerstone, and you are the building that rests upon the foundation.

You might remember in the past we’ve talked about spiritual fathers, children, young men; 1 John 1: 12-15. This is a picture of the oikos being the family, a family unit.

22:42 And so, this is part of the vision that the Divine gave me so many years ago. The vision wasn’t necessarily centered around the oikos, but oikos was a very major part of it.

In regards to the biological or adoptive family of our youth: We develop this idea of what family is and what family isn’t, or you could say, what oikos is and what oikos isn’t, based upon our familial experience as we’re growing up.

Obviously we all have very different family experiences. And sadly many of us can see room for lots of improvement in that experience. But I think that in the majority of cases, MOST of us had family members that we could at least ask to help us with something or another.

But sadly, almost no matter how pleasant our biological familial experience was as we were growing up, it hardly compares to the ideal that the Most High has for us in His Oikos. What He has in mind for His people, how His people should live on this physical planet in these physical bodies at this time.

And of course, in no case does our earthly family experience even come close to the oikos of eternity that His people will enjoy. Praise God.

Oikos is all through the Bible. Once you begin to embrace the idea of oikos, and what it can look like, you begin to see oikos, all through the Bible.

One key passage that demonstrates Biblical oikos is Acts 12:11-17. This was a time of great persecution of Elohim’s people. Some had been put to death. Multitudes upon multitudes had been severely abused and mistreated.

In this passage apostle Peter finds himself in prison. Acts 12:5 tells us that as Peter was kept in prison, his oikos was fervently praying for him. And then the text goes on to tell us that, probably in response to those prayers, an angel came and released Apostle Peter from prison.

26:46 Peter was released from prison. Not by those who placed him in prison, but by an angel sent from Heaven. When that happened, Peter didn’t know if He was actually experiencing it, if He was somehow seeing a vision, or if it was a dream. He really wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, because it seemed so unreal to him. That’s where we pick up the story.

Acts 12:11-17
11 When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.” 12 And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John, who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. 13 When he knocked at the door of the gate, a slave woman named Rhoda came to answer. 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. 15 They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she kept insisting that it was so. They said, “It is his angel.” 16 But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed. 17 But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, “Report these things to James and the brothers.” Then he left and went to another place.

So when the divine supernaturally released Apostle Peter from the jail, what did Peter do? Did he go to his biological family first? Did he go to his aunt, his uncle? Did he go to his “best friend” who noone from his “church” even knew? Did he go to his friends at work? Did he go to his fishing buddies? His bowling buddies?

No. Peter went to those most important to him and that was the oikos that His Heavenly Father had given him.

Peter went to his oikos. My point is He went to the people who he considered to be his family.

30:01 So I believe that this is a lesson to help all of us embrace the importance of the oikos. The Most High has created this context of oikos for His people.

This idea of oikos involves terrific relationships, righteous relationships, godly relationships that intertwine: Intertwined in a way that I believe very few have experienced.

But in modern America, relatively speaking, very few have experienced this mixture of good, godly, relationships according to Matthew 22:36-39, that are trustworthy. I am speaking of reliable, dependable, family-oriented relationships within what we proclaim to be the most important aspects of our lives.

I believe that this is a lesson to help all of us embrace what the Most High has for us.

So, as we consider oikos, I encourage you to consider the family of Elohim, the family of God. And as you’re reading the Scriptures, consider those righteous, godly relationships that we see there. Abraham and Isaac, Yeshua and His disciples and apostles, King David and his love for the Most High, a man after God’s own heart.

In stories like these you begin to see the context of oikos. you can then begin to restructure your view of a healthy family according to what we see in the oikos.

Our biological family is to reflect the spiritual family that is connected by the blood of Yeshua just as the spiritual family should reflect the Biblical picture of the biological family. It’s it’s an amazingly beautiful context, paradigm, that our loving Heavenly Father has created for us.

I hope that you can embrace this idea and principle of oikos. It has the potential of being the foundation of a changed, wonderful life that few of us have experienced.

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