“. . . if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15, NIV).

Probably the first thing that comes to mind when we think of the church as “God’s household” is that Christians are God’s family. After all, household means the people who live in a house, and in our society, that’s usually a family. Indeed, God has adopted all believers into his family. But to gain a deeper understanding of Paul’s meaning, I would like to propose a different way of looking at it, not to replace the notion of the household of God as God’s family, but to enrich it.

Biltmore Estate, build for George Vanderbilt, is one of North Carolina’s best-known tourist destinations. The tour of that house eventually takes visitors down to the servants’ quarters. Vanderbilt’s household, then, included not only his family, but also his servants. Even today, some households include both family members and resident servants. It is the continuation of centuries of rulers and landed gentry maintaining a staff of servants.

In the days before constitutional monarchies, kings, dukes, and other nobles not only commanded chamber maids, gardeners, and so on. Their households also included their chief counselors and officials. King Louis XIV of France neutralized any possibility of his nobles conspiring against him by requiring them all to live at Versailles. Therefore, his household included every French duke and their families as well as his own and all their servants!

Church leaders (bishops, archbishops, Cardinals, and the Pope) maintained households just like the secular rulers did. In fact, I would be shocked if recent Popes haven’t had the support of an extensive household just as their predecessors had for centuries.

Surely the Caesars had their own household, as did all of the lesser kings, like the Herods, who ruled parts of the empire under them. Think of how many times Jesus mentioned servants in his parables. Look at glimpses of how Nebuchadnezzar organized his household in the book of Daniel. The early church might have thought of the household of God in terms of God’s servants before they thought of it in terms of his family. They would have surely recognized all church leaders as servants.

God is king of kings. Christians are his servants first, his family only by adoption. God’s household comprises all of his angels and the entire church. It includes church leaders from the very top right down to lay people who serve their congregations in various capacities. In fact, the household of God includes believers who attend church without any additional participation, and even those who for various reasons hardly show up in church at all.

We are God’s family, to be sure, but let us not be like boisterous children without restraint. Let us not carry on family feuds. We are also his household servants. Church leaders (and that ought to include all of us) should not assume that their position makes them the boss so they can lord it over others. Let none of us shirk responsibilities unless someone else is watching. People of the household of God, let’s remember who we work for!