My Father’s Business #14

Saturday, January 18, 2020

“And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49 KJV).

And, just what is the Lord Jesus’ Father’s “business?”

The master of the house chooses the manner in which it is to be run. He can elect who manages it for him, and that person, being under his authority, is to follow his orders. Furthermore, over the course of time, he can change those rules. Thus, he will not accept what he once tolerated in his house. He can also choose another manager, picking someone else to oversee his affairs so that new manager may conduct his business accordingly. Here is how the God of the Bible administers His work in His creation.

Titus 1:7 says, “For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;….” The church leader—sometimes called the “pastor”—is likened to “the steward of God.” In Greek, “steward” is “oikonomon.” Ordinarily, that term would be nonsense to the English reader. However, we should see the connection to “dispensation” (“oikonomia;” “house laws”). The “steward” is “the house-distributor:” he parcels out whatever the master of the house has given him to dispense.

Paul the Apostle thus wrote in 1 Corinthians chapter 4, the first two verses: “Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.” He and his ministry companions are said to be “stewards of the mysteries of God.” That word “stewards” loops back to Titus 1:7. Almighty God gave to Paul (firstly) and his ministry coworkers (secondly) a series of “mysteries” or secrets. This body of Divine revelation—called “the Dispensation of the Grace of God” (Ephesians 3:2)—was delivered to Paul that he would then distribute it to us.

With Paul’s ministry arrived a new dispensation, a fresh way the Lord desired His creation to run. Paul is God’s “steward” for today. As the Lord Jesus Christ sees fit, so He runs His “Father’s business,” making that business known through the Pauline epistles, Romans through Philemon….