EXEMPLARY HOUSE CHURCH
Romans 16:3-16
Key verse: 16:5

“Greet also the church in his house”

Thank and praise God for blessing us with this Forum for New
Generation Leadership. In this Forum, God blessed me to give a
message about “an exemplary house church.” As young spiritual
leaders we have a great spiritual responsibility toward our family,
society, nation and to the whole world. Family is the core of our
society. If we want to bring spiritual revival, we need to bring in
through family. And that can be done through raising house
churches. When God made Adam and Eve, He raised them as the
first house church, which was established to glorify God. Through
Romans 16: 3-5, we had an exemplary house-church, through the
Priscilla and Aquila’s sacrificial life, a married couple that had huge
influence on the early church. I pray that we can learn from them
what it means to be a house church and how this type of family
involved in world mission.
I. Pricilla and Aquila’s house church

At the conclusion of his letter to the Romans, Paul gives
recommendations, greetings and best wishes to the brothers who
were in Rome. In his letter led to 26 people, Paul highlights the
couple Prisca and Aquila, driving them the first greeting. Verse 3
says, “Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ
Jesus.” Priscilla and Aquila are mentioned several times in the Bible
(Ac 18:2-3,18-19,26; 1Cor 16:19; 2Ti 4:19). They were Jews from
Pontus who immigrated to Rome. They lived in Rome until A.D. 49,
when Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome. Then they
went to Corinth, where they met Paul. Like Paul, they were
tentmakers, so they worked together and stayed together. They also
became spiritual coworkers in Christ Jesus. By the grace of Jesus
Christ and through high calling, they became tent-making
missionaries.

At the time, tents trade was very important. The Roman soldiers
bought tents before heading to wars around the world. Maybe Aquila
takes care of production and his wife did the sales. They should be
prosperous. We called them self-supporting missionaries. They
were a hardworking couple, who never depended on anyone. Rather,
they supported the work of God with the participation in the
preaching and in the support material. Always maintained their
financial independence to take care of their needs.

They weren’t those people who expect others to help or think that
others should help them. But they were those who were always
ready to help others. They must have accepted Paul’s vision for
world salvation based on the word of God. Later, they followed Paul
to Ephesus, leaving their business and property behind and starting
all over again. They were Jews, but they served the Gentiles
together with Paul. All the Gentiles were grateful to them.
God blessed the faith of this couple raising them as a house
church. In Genesis chapter 2 verse 18-25, we see that God
establishes marriage as a union and unity, where the two come
together to collaborate in the mission given by God and for His
glory. The basis of marriage should be the love of Christ; both
should be as the branches attached to the vine. When we love Christ
we love each other, and together we can collaborate in his work.
Before meeting Jesus, I thought I loved people, but in reality I was a
very selfish person. I was full of me, me and mine were my keys
words. My life was really miserable. But Jesus shows me His love.
With the love of Jesus in my heart I can love others and collaborate
with them in God’s work. I thank God who helped me become
financially independent through a research grant after my Masters. I
pray that I can follow the example of Aquila and Priscilla, being a
good worker of the gospel.
II. The sacrificial spirit of Pricilla and Aquila

In the fourth verse, Paul identifies this couple as “who, for my life
risked their heads”. The association of Priscilla and Aquila to Paul
was a great risk to their lives, as Paul suffered many persecutions,
even to the point of being arrested, beaten and reviled. They risked
their lives for the sake of the Christ’ gospel. They had a life-giving
spirit and a life commitment to the work of God.

Missionary Matthew says that love is sacrifice. In John 15:13 Jesus
says “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life
for his friends.”Jesus loves us so much that he gave his life for us,
dying for us to have life. This is God’s love, unconditional love and
that love doesn’t t measure the sacrifices. Priscilla and Aquila
emitted this love in their lives, risking their lives for their friends and
sheep of Christ. They opened the doors of their house to the
servants of Jesus and to serve the sheep with spiritual and physical
bread. In Acts, 19:24-28 we see how they took to their home Apollo
to feeding him with the spiritual bread. Apollo was eloquent in
preaching and knew the scriptures, but his message was based on
the baptism of John, lacking the grace of Christ’s love. Priscilla and
Aquila moved with compassion and teacher him the way of the Lord,
building him in saving faith.

Both in Corinth, Ephesus and in Rome, the Priscilla and Aquila’s
home were a house that served God, embracing the mission of
feeding the sheep, accommodating staff, serving prayer meetings
and preaching. They become good shepherd and Bible
teachers. This is the sacrificial spirit demanded by the gospel. Jesus
teaches us this spirit through several passages, particularly in John
10:11, where He says “I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd
lays down his life for his sheep.” The good shepherd is one who has
the sacrificial spirit. So a house church must have a sacrificial spirit.
III. The mean of church

Look at the verse 5, Paul says, “greet also the church in their
house.” Wherever Priscilla and Aquila went, they opened their house
to be used as a “house church”. They had a house church in
Corinth, in Ephesus, and in Rome. They gathered Christians or
truth-seekers, teaching them the word of God, and gave them
delicious food. Their house was an open door, open arms and open
hearts. Their house was also a place for coworkers’ prayer
throughout the nations. Through their house we remember Jesus’
words in Mark 11:17b, “My house will be called a house of prayer for
all nations.”

When we look at church history, there is no record of a formal
church building until the end of the second century. Rather, house
churches, like that of Priscilla and Aquila, were the whole church of
God. Notice that Paul didn’t address them as, “Aquila’s family.” He
said, “Priscilla and Aquila” –wife first. In a house church the wife’s
role is very important, because they became in mother of many.
Because of this Paul saw them with equal honor and respect.

In Matthew 16:18-19 Jesus told Peter: “Well, I tell you that you are
Peter, upon this rock I will build my church (…) I’ll give you the keys
of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven, and whatever you lose on earth will be turned off
in Heaven”. Through these verses we can see the truly means of
church. So the churches are the people who make the bridge
between earth and heaven, through Jesus Christ. Likewise, a house
church is the union of two persons to form a royal priesthood,
connecting earth to heaven.

At the present time, young people have great prejudice against the
concept of the Church. This bias is largely due to the formalism of
big churches. I myself was one of such young; I had a great
prejudice against the great Churches. If it didn’t have 2 house
church in Portugal, I’ll continue in darkness. So the house church is
the most effective means to bringing young’s hearts to the gospel
message. A family breaks down the formality associated to great
churches, offering a more personal and welcoming
environment. And also, a house church reveals better Christ’s love,
being an image of the kingdom of God.

Therefore God raised UBF as an instrument to raise house churches
in 90 countries where worked one thousand and five hundred
missionaries. We pray that by 2041 we can send hundred thousand
missionaries to 233 countries around the world including Islamic
countries, China and North Korea. We praise God for blessing this
ministry and use of house church greatly in the last 50 years. We
pray that God established in Portugal 12 house churches starting for
me. Amen
IV. Marriage of faith

Married by faith is one of de most great challenge for us. Like Mary
Magdalene, who poured on Jesus head an expensive perfume, we
must to pour on Jesus our hearts and then we can accept this
challenge. Marriage of faith is one of the most effective ways that
God have been use to bless all nation. We learned that a leader is
those who make difference in a time. But, only life can make
difference, we must die to other have life.

We have several examples of house church in our history, which
became a source of blessing for many. Since the patriarchs of the
faith, like Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca and Mary and
Joseph, through several missionaries families and even in UBF. All
of them have established their families based on faith and love of
God and the desire to serve. Through this passage we see the great
vision of God to use families in His redemptive work. I personally
believe that Abraham and Sarah are a proof of this view. They were
ordinary people who just had faith in God’s promise. And through
the strong arm of God, they became a source of blessing until today.
In our generation the concept of family is based on selfish
feelings. People marry for physical attraction, passion, interest or
vanity. They have no basis as the mission of God, so they can’t
maintain a marriage. Priscilla and Aquila were together with the love
of Christ, their joy was to serve God. Theirs sacrificial life is not for
self-glory, so they can love each other and to be a blessing. In such
a family develops genuine love, unselfish love. Therefore, in our
generation it is essential to have these type couple who are
sustained by faith, love and desire to commit themselves to Christ
for the mission.

When I was a teenager, I dreamed with marriage. But as I grew I saw
that the reality was far from the fairy tales, a reality marked by a
failure of marriages. Then I met Jesus personally, I realized that
marriage is a gift from God. I realized that the problem of divorce
was due to lack of knowledge of the true meaning of marriage.

However, due to my selfishness and fatalism, I continued skeptical
about this union established by God. Looking at me so miserable, I
concluded that only God, who is full of mercy and compassion, can
love me, so nobody else will be able to accept me as I am. Also due
to my self-pity I didn’t want to undergo a marriage as being
rejected. Also, I didn’t want to deny myself to accept the other -
since I always had feminist ideas. But through Matthew 19: 1-12,
Jesus has opened my heart to the faithful marriage. I personally
accept that the union of man to his wife is a gift from God and is for
His glory. I repented of my fatalism, self-pity and a proud heart for
marriage established by God.

The tradition of marriage in Portugal is a tradition where it lost the
mean of marriage established by God, therefore there is no longer a
concept of family prayer. Most couples got divorced after 5-10 years
and for every three marriages there is a divorce. This tradition
spread to all Portuguese speaking countries. So I accepted the
personal call from God to establish a house church, which can
glorify God and be an example for the young Portuguese and also
for young people from Portuguese-speaking countries

Through the life of Priscilla and Aquila we can learn that every home
can turn into a small church. A church where love of Christ must
reign, a love made of altruism, cooperation and sacrificial
spirit. Also a house is where all family life is based on faith and
turns around the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I pray that God may
establish many beautiful houses church such as Priscilla and Aquila
in our generation.