I played in a jazz-rock band (think, Chicago, Tower of Power, BS&T) throughout the '70s. While we never made it big, we did have a bit of local success. We played for high school dances, weddings, and a variety of special events - county fairs, grand openings, etc..
Once in a while, we would get booked for a concert or a night club. In order to ensure the success of these "gigs", there were a number of promotional strategies designed to guarantee that the event would be well-attended. One such strategy often employed by the club owner or the concert promoter would be to give out a number of free tickets - usually to some very specific, influential people - who would generate enough "buzz" to start a kind of snowball effect in the hope that the event would gain "critical mass" and begin to self-promote. This strategy is called "papering the house."
The Early Church
God's ambitious plan to create and promote a brand new covenant community from scratch would need an effective promotional strategy. He would need to find a way to gain "critical mass" - that is, to initiate enough "buzz" so that the movement would sustain itself. So, I propose, he "papered the house".
But God did it his way. Instead of recruiting influential people, God recruited completely unremarkable individuals. And instead of giving out free tickets, God gave out divine enablement. And the "house" that God "papered"? - the city of "Jerusalem, and all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).
As we read through the book of Acts, we can't help but notice that something truly amazing - something divine and supernatural - was happening at the onset of the early church. It seems that upon a single telling of the gospel by the apostles, thousands of people immediately responded with conviction and faith (Acts 2:41, 47, Acts 4:4, Acts 5:14, etc.). These people ignored the scorn and persecution and death threats to become part of God's new covenant community - the Church. By contrast, I read somewhere that the average Christian today has heard the gospel seventeen times before responding with conviction and faith.
A Clever Strategy
Indeed, something very unique was going on in the early church. I suggest that what we witness in the book of Acts and throughout the New Testament are the effects of God's clever and effective church-building strategy of "papering the house", that is, divinely predisposing certain individuals throughout the region to receive the gospel with joy and begin to spread the "good news" to the world.
We read in the four gospels where this successful strategy began with the recruitment and training of just a handful of "promoters" - the apostles and a few other faithful followers. These servants were tasked with delivering the message of reconciliation - the gospel - to people who had been divinely pre-enabled with unique receptivity to the gospel message. Then, to ensure the church-launching event would be successful and self-promoting, God supernaturally gifted these special individuals with the abilities - spiritual gifts - needed to:
(1) convince others that this was a "God-thing" (gifts of miracles, prophesy, healing, etc.) and, (2) effectively manage and grow the fledgling movement (gifts of evangelism, teaching, administration, etc.).
"Sons of Peace"
So, who are these people graced with such unique receptivity to the gospel?
I believe that our first introduction to these special "church-starters", is in Matthew 10, and in Luke 9 & 10. About one year before the cross, Jesus conducts a kind of "test-run" designed to reveal the effectiveness of God's strategy of "papering the house." He sends his apostles and other disciples into the community to deliver a simple message - "the kingdom of God has come near" - to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Jesus gives them the following instructions:
Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house!' (Luke 10:5 ESV)
And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. (Luke 10:6 ESV)
"Son of peace". This is the only place in all of Scripture (Luke 10:6) where this cryptic reference is used. Jesus tells his disciples that if a "son of peace" is in the house, the words of peace spoken by the disciples will "rest upon him." I don't think it would be too far-fetched to say that it's as if the disciples' words, "peace be to this house" were like a divine hypnotic suggestion that, when heard by one of these people who were foreknown and appointed by God, the message would resonate as truth and would be received with great joy.
I believe that it was these "sons of peace" who were in view when Jesus prays to his Father in John 17 for the unification of those who will "believe in him through the apostles' word" (John 17:20). Jesus tells his Father that he has "glorified" these individuals with some unspecified divine enabling (v 22). With that in mind, I propose that a "son of peace" is someone who was chosen to be a son of the Prince of Peace, someone who was graced by Jesus to become one of the "firstfruits to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth" (2 Thes 2:13).
Success!
Of course the "test run" that Jesus conducted was successful. When the disciples return, they are absolutely giddy as they tell Jesus of their victories. And Jesus, himself, seems delighted at the results, declaring that he "saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18 ESV).
We need to fully appreciate what God, out of his love for the world, did to create enough "buzz", to gain "critical mass" and ensure the successful spread of the "good news" to all nations, so that "whosoever believes in [Jesus] will never perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). We, the contemporary Christian church, are testimony to the success of God's clever, church-building strategy of "papering the house."
Next Post: Hell: Three Views
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