1 Timothy 3:15  “ … but in case I am delayed, I write so that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”

Could it be true that we live in a post-Christian age? This is what many have proposed. If by that they mean that we live in an age where there is no common Christian consensus then they are probably right. There is no doubt that we have moved past the point where there is a Christian consensus in Australia. At one time there was a more common understanding of Christian teaching. Today, there is a condition that might be described as rank ignorance.

This ignorance is due in part to a lack of sound teaching by the Church, but it also has its roots in the increasing religious diversity of our culture. Whatever the case, we cannot assume that people know what we mean when we use Christian terminology. Indeed, it would also be a mistake to assume that people in the average church know what we mean. This is why we need to carefully examine what the Bible says concerning even the terms we employ in speaking about Christianity.

This is certainly true concerning the Church. An understanding of the Church is at high risk of being lost in our culture and even in our churches themselves. Of all the issues facing Christians today, arguably the most important of all is their own identity.  Who or what is the Church?

How we understand our own identity will have a huge effect on how we live and relate to others and face all the other issues before us.

Our culture is filled with a multitude of organisations. Civic organisations and social clubs have multiplied. Unfortunately, many see the Church as one more such organisation. For them the church is just another option to choose. Like the Lion’s Club, it is engaged in benevolent works, only with an emphasis on spiritual things. So, if you want to engage in benevolent work with a spiritual flavour, then join the Church. If that doesn’t interest you, however, then simply join another kind of organisation. Any will do. All are optional.

In this view of the church, the church is seen as primarily organisational in nature. We are very organisation conscious in our culture, after all. We hear terms like “The Institutional Church” and “Organised Religion.” Usually, people use these terms whenever they are trying to avoid getting involved in church. This is because the church as an organisation is not seen as particularly relevant. People therefore believe that they can “opt out” of this organisation.

Our text, however, indicates that the Church is much more than simply an organisation. The apostle Paul, in writing to Timothy, instructing him in how one ought to conduct himself in relation to the Church, calls the Church the household of God and the pillar and support of the truth.

The fact that the Church is described as God’s household in which we ought to know how to behave is significant. This means that the Church has a special importance in God’s plan. And it also means that we ought to know how we are to live and function within that plan.

The Church is not optional. Jesus established the Church. He did not merely establish individual Christian living; He established corporate faith. When Peter made his confession that he believed that Jesus was indeed the Christ, the Son of the Living God, Jesus announced that He would build upon that confession a community of believers. This community of faith would be called His Church.

The New Testament assumes that people who are believers are connected to a local expression of this Church where they live out that faith. Individual and independent Christianity is nowhere to be found in the pages of Scripture. So, the Church is not man’s invention, but God’s. Because Christ instituted the Church, we should know what it is and how we should function in it.

What is the Church? How should we define it? There are many different definitions. The simplest and best I have ever heard goes like this:

The Church is composed of people redeemed by the Son of God, brought together by the will of God to live together as the family of God, in order to do the work of God in the power of the Spirit of God, all for the glory of God.

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Many images are used to describe God’s people in the Scriptures. We’re described as a living temple, an army, a body, a fellowship, and a family. All of these images depict different aspects of the nature of the Church.

One of the most powerful images is that of the Church as family. It is powerful because it focuses on the essential ingredient of relationships. In families we are related to one another by blood. It is a strong bond, one which focuses our allegiance and fidelity.

And so it is in the Church when we view this community as a family. We are brought together into this covenant community where our bond is the relationship we share both with God and with one another. We are committed to one another because we are family. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we experience an inter-connectedness that is more than our common human experience. This inter-connectedness is based on our common spiritual life.

Do you see yourself as part of this family of God called the Church? Do you see yourself as related to these people sitting all around you? If you are a Christian, a part of God’s family, then you most certainly are related to every other member of God’s family. And just as in your physical family you did not get a chance to choose your brothers and sisters, so in the spiritual family you did not get to choose. If they are God’s sons and daughters, they are your brothers and sisters.

This has powerful implications concerning how we ought to conduct ourselves in the household of God. One of the purposes for the church is to share God’s love. We call it ministry. We are to care for one another. When one member is hurting, all the other members suffer, and they come to the aid of the one hurting.

Another purpose is to equip God’s people. We call this discipleship. In other words, we are to bring one another to maturity. When someone needs encouragement, or admonition, or even rebuke, we are there to provide it. These things are not done by programs, they are done by people. Christian ministry and discipleship are relationship oriented. We must get involved in the lives of one another if ministry and discipleship are to occur. They can only occur within the context of community. This is why we must become involved. This is not an option. It is not an option to be involved, and it is not an option with whom to be involved.

God puts us together with a variety of people. He puts us with people we like and people we like less. He puts us together with people who fit our comfort zone and people who do not. He does so for two very good reasons. We need them and they need us. Yet so often we respond just like the world responds. We choose to associate with those we like and hold the others at arm’s length. We justify it in a number of ways, some of which have an element of truth to them. But in reality, what we do is form a little clique into which others can never be accepted. Many in the church do this. Are you one of them?

Is it God’s intention that we should hold other believers at arm’s length? I am not talking about having close friends, but about becoming exclusive, about not sharing your life with others. Do you think you have a right to hold your brothers and sisters at arm’s length? Don’t you realise that God has composed the church so that each member needs every other member? Are you so special that you can both deprive yourself and others of this needed interaction? You may mistakenly think that you don’t need it, but what about others who need you?

You see friend, what we do matters. Our behaviour impacts every other believer in the household of faith. We need each other. I need you and you need me. You need what I have in God and I need what you have in God. When we hold one another at arm’s length then the whole church suffers – when we open up to one another, become involved even when it is uncomfortable, and share our lives with each other, then the whole Church is built up.

Unless we see the church as the household of God and ourselves as related to every other believer, we are not seeing the Church biblically. But when we do, and when we surrender to that way of life, then we will begin to experience life on a new level. Jesus called it abundant life. Abundant life is not abundant unless it can be shared.