God’s Church

GOD’S CHURCH

What the Bible teaches about the people of God

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: March 8, 2026

Series: The Basics of the Christian Faith

Note: Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION

In my estimation one of the most beautiful hymns that we sing here at South Paris Baptist Church is the one entitled “We Are God’s People”. We are set to sing it together at the end of this service, as the fitting response to the sermon that you are about to hear. I’d like to begin this talk about the church by calling our attention to the words of this hymn:

“We are God's people, the chosen of the Lord, 
Born of His Spirit, established by His Word; 
Our cornerstone is Christ alone, 
And strong in Him we stand: 
O let us live transparently 
And walk heart to heart and hand in hand.

“We are God’s loved ones, the Bride of Christ our Lord, 
For we have known it, the love of God outpoured; 
Now let us learn how to return 
The gift of love once given: 
O let us share each joy and care, 
And live with a zeal that pleases Heaven.

“We are the Body of which the Lord is Head, 
Called to obey Him, now risen from the dead; 
He wills us be a family, 
Diverse yet truly one: 
O let us give our gifts to God, 
And so shall his work on earth be done.

“We are a temple, the Spirit’s dwelling place, 
Formed in great weakness, a cup to hold God’s grace; 
We die alone, for on its own 
Each ember loses fire: 
Yet joined in one the flame burns on 
To give warmth and light, and to inspire.”[1]

For those of us who belong to God through faith in Jesus, that is what we are. We must know what we are – what we are together. We must know what it means. And we must know how to live in accordance with that meaningful God-given reality.

Today’s sermon is designed to give you several snapshots of what it means for us to be a community of human beings who have been redeemed and brought together by God’s grace.

I. We are God’s church

First, we are God’s church.

GOD IS THE ESTABLISHER AND OWNER OF THE CHURCH

The phrase ‘God’s church’ communicates God’s creation and ownership of the church. Now of course there are many pseudo-churches out there, there are many groups that describe themselves as ‘church’ that are nothing of the sort. But the true church, in which the gospel of Jesus Christ is faithfully proclaimed and faithfully believed and faithfully lived, is God’s church. The phrase “church of God” occurs seven times in the English Standard Version of the New Testament. Let me give you just one passage where this phrase occurs.

At the beginning of first letter to the Corinthians, Paul wrote:

“To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:” (1 Corinthians 1:2).

To begin with, this verse highlights God’s sovereignty over the church. The church is His church – “the church of God”. He has “sanctified” the people who constitute the church. He has “called” us – indeed, He has “called [us] to be saints together” with all the saints scattered around the world.

Now what is the essential characteristic of those who have been sanctified and called into the church? We “call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. In other words, our faith is in Jesus and we express our faith in prayer, in worship, in song. This doesn’t just mean that at some moment in the past we put our faith in Jesus. A true believer isn’t someone who merely believed at some particular moment in the past; a true believer is someone who is characterized now by believing Jesus, by trusting Jesus, by having faith and confidence in Jesus, moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day. And so “the church of God” consists of people who are always looking to Jesus. He has redeemed us, sanctified us and made us holy, by His blood. We stand in awe of Him. We fix our eyes on Him. Our confidence is in Him.

GOD HAS CALLED US OUT

In calling our attention to the phrase “the church of God”, the first point is to emphasize that the Triune God is the Creator, Establisher, and Owner of the church. But there is another point to draw from this phrase: the second point is to emphasize that God’s church is the assembly, the congregation, the gathering of people that He has called together. The word that is translated ‘church’ is the Greek word ekklesia, and ekklesia can also be translated assembly or congregation. This means that ekklesia is not an abstract organization, but an actual group of people. The church is a group or gathering of people, but not of just any people. The church is a group or gathering of specific people whom God has called together. The word ekklesia comes from two Greek words, ek and kaleo, which mean ‘out of’ and ‘called’. The church is a group or gathering of specific people who have been called out of other business, other agendas, other preoccupations. The implication, of course, is that we have been called into something else.

What have we been called into? First Corinthians 1:9 tells us: “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:9) We have been called out of the world, out of this present evil age, out of our sin, out of our own selfish pursuits, and we have been called into fellowship with Jesus, into partnership with Jesus, into community with Jesus. We have been washed, sanctified, and justified “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (1 Corinthians 6:11) We have been brought, not merely into individual fellowship with Jesus (though individual fellowship is included), but we have been brought together into fellowship with Jesus and with all of His people. Thus to be ‘God’s church’ is to be a divinely created community of saints: “called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”.

RESPONSIBILITY: LIVE IN UNITY WITH ONE ANOTHER

Now before we leave 1 Corinthians 1, I don’t want to fail to mention the verse that follows 1 Corinthians 1:9. First Corinthians 1:9 said, “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” The truth that the church is the fellowship of Jesus means that we must live in Jesus-centered unity with one another. So the very next verse says:

“I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.” (1 Corinthians 1:10)

As Paul goes on to say in the following verses, Christ isn’t divided. And since Christ isn’t divided, His fellowship isn’t divided, and since His fellowship isn’t divided, His people shouldn’t be divided. If people who are actually in fellowship with Jesus are actually divided with one another, then we are at fault, and we must repent.

SUMMARY

Let’s put it all together: God’s church is the divinely created and divinely arranged community of redeemed people who have been called out of the world and called into the fellowship of Jesus. Thus we gather together at God’s initiative, at God’s call. We gather together in the name of Jesus, having confidence not in ourselves but in Him. We gather together, not in order to advance our own individual agendas, but in order to be God’s sanctified, set apart, holy people. Simply put, we gather together for relationship with God through Jesus. And since the church is the fellowship of Jesus, we must do whatever Jesus directs us to do. And so long as we as a company of saints take our cues from our Director Jesus, we shall most certainly “be united in the same mind” and pursue the same goals. 

We are God’s church.

II. We are God’s people

Second, we are God’s people. This is rather obvious, of course, but it must be highlighted. It says in 1 Peter 2:9-10,

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” (1 Peter 2:9-10)

There are actually multiple concepts in these two verses, but one clear emphasis here is on people. The terms “race” and “nation” dovetail with the term “people”: we are a chosen people, a holy people, “a people for [God’s] own possession”. “Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people.”

The entire passage rings with the privilege of being God’s people. In particular, I want to call attention to the privilege of being recipients of God’s mercy (as verse 10 tells us). We aren’t God’s people by virtue of natural birth, natural endowment, or natural ability. Once we were “not a people”; once we were entrapped in “darkness”; once we were left to ourselves in ordinary sinfulness. But then divine mercy descended upon us: God had mercy upon us, and we received it. In great compassion, God lifted us out of the muck and mire of our sin. According to the riches of His grace, He chose us and set us apart and made us His own. Jesus “gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age” (Galatians 1:4). The Father “delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.” (Colossians 1:13) All who are God’s people are the privileged recipients of God’s mercy, compassion, and grace. We haven’t made ourselves into God’s people, but God has made us so:

“Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” (Psalm 100:3)

RESPONSIBILITY: PROCLAIM GOD’S GREATNESS

There are dozens of responsibilities associated with being God’s people, but 1 Peter 2:9-10 mentions one. What is it? It is our responsibility to “proclaim the excellencies of him who called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light.” The responsibility itself is a privilege, but I am using the word ‘responsibility’ to emphasize that this is our fitting response to what God has done – and we must respond in this way! Self-made men proclaim their own excellencies; self-made men write books and go on the speaking circuit and get fielded for interviews, so that they can declare to the world their own wisdom, their own determination, their own success. By contrast, we are a God-made people, and we are what we are by the grace of God. We are not here to proclaim ourselves, but to proclaim the grace of God, the majesty of God, the wisdom of God, and the wonder of the cross. Journalists salivate at the opportunity to report on the world’s most famous people. The journalist who gets to interview the President in the White House, or the journalist who gets to write the authorized biography of the most famous athlete, is considered blessed. How blessed are we, that we get to report on the Father of mercies, the Jesus of tenderhearted compassion, the Spirit of grace? And we get to report on this, not as an outsider who is invited to rub shoulders with the famous person for a little while, but as insiders who have been included among God’s holy people forever.

We are God’s people, and as those who have received abundant mercy, we are called to proclaim the wonders of our merciful and gracious God. When we proclaim God’s greatness to one another, it is teaching and edification. When we proclaim God’s greatness to the world, it is evangelism and witness. When we proclaim God’s greatness to God, it is worship. And this leads us into the next concept.

III. We are God’s temple

Third, we are God’s temple. Since we’re in 1 Peter 2, let’s stay there a little bit longer. You may recall that I gave some instruction about the church as God’s temple two sermons ago in the message about the Holy Spirit. By way of reminder, Ephesians 2:21-22 says,

“[In Christ] the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:21-22)

The church community, not the building or the organization but the people, is God’s “dwelling place”, “a holy temple in the Lord.” We see this same reality set forth in 1 Peter 2:4-5, which says,

“As you come to him [the Lord Jesus Christ], a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:4-5)

Although the phrase temple is not used in these verses, the concept is present. Just as physical stones are joined together, one next to another, one on top of another, and so on, in the building up of a physical house, so we are “like living stones” that are joined together, one next to another, one on top of another, with Christ Himself being the preeminent living stone, the cornerstone, and so we are “being built up as a spiritual house”. This spiritual house is obviously referring to the fact that we are being built up as God’s house, as the holy temple where God dwells. We know this because Peter connects the phrase “spiritual house” to two other phrases that refer to what takes place in the temple, namely, priests offering sacrifices to God. In the Old Testament framework, the physical priests (the sons of Aaron) offered physical sacrifices (animal sacrifices and grain offerings) in a physical temple. When these sacrifices were offered up in an attitude of humble faith, these sacrifices were spiritual and pleasing to God. But in the New Testament framework, the “holy priesthood” belongs to all of God’s people, to all believers. We are “a holy priesthood” (v. 5); we are “a royal priesthood” (v. 9). We’re not just living stones who constitute the walls of the spiritual house; we’re royal priests who walk the temple grounds, who serve as stewards of God’s house and as caretakers of the church community, and we are meant to fill God’s house with worship.

The privilege of being God’s temple is simply this, to be the special place where God dwells – not in the general sense in which God is omnipresent and dwells everywhere, but in the specific sense in which God dwells redemptively and savingly with His covenant people, with the people who are in special relationship with Him through faith in Jesus. Another way of looking at this privilege is that we are being built up in union with Christ the cornerstone. He is the chosen and precious stone, but in Him and in fellowship with Him, we are chosen and precious, too. We are “a chosen race” (v. 9). When we endure suffering with patient endurance, “this is a gracious thing in the sight of God” (1 Peter 2:20). We are living stones in life-giving communion with Christ the cornerstone, and the whole edifice of God’s temple-people is filled with God’s holy and gracious presence.

RESPONSIBILITY: OFFER SPIRITUAL SACRIFICES TO GOD

Recognizing the privilege of being “a holy priesthood” who live in the house where God dwells, it is our responsibility “to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). We are priests who have been appointed to worship God. The world is full of religious systems and temple buildings and priestly officers and dutiful worshippers who attempt to offer something of value to the deity, and yet apart from Christ the sacrifices are not acceptable and always come up short. When people are ignorant of the true God, when people are ignorant of Jesus Christ the one Mediator between God and humanity, when people are ignorant of the perfect sacrifice of Christ which reconciles sinners to the Holy One – where there is such ignorance, there are no “spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” But no thanks to any merit of our own, we have been brought into a right relationship with the Father through the atoning sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. As a result, we can “worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). We can “offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

What are these “spiritual sacrifices” that we offer? There are at least three. First, we present ourselves to God as living sacrifices:

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1)

Second, we praise God with sanctified lips that flow from a heart full of faith:

“Through him [Jesus] then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.” (Hebrews 13:15)

Third, we share our resources with those around us in order to meet people’s needs:

“Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” (Hebrews 13:16)

Of course, we are not priests in some big impersonal organization. We are priests in loving relationship with God and with each other. So let’s move to the next snapshot.

IV. We are God’s family

Fourth, we are God’s family. This understanding of church is found all throughout the New Testament. For example, Jesus identified His disciples as spiritual family, and He prioritized spiritual family over natural family, though of course both are very important and neither should be neglected. With his mother and brothers outside calling for Him, and his disciples inside learning from him, Jesus said in reference to His disciples, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:34-35) Believers are addressed as children of God, and as brothers and sisters to each other, all throughout the New Testament. Peter refers to followers of Jesus as the “brotherhood” in 1 Peter 5:9.

It is an unspeakable privilege to have a near-and-dear extended spiritual family all throughout the world. Part of the hundredfold blessing that Jesus promised to His followers in this present life is a multitude of spiritual “brothers and sisters and mothers and children” (Mark 10:30). The greatest privilege of all is that God Almighty is our Father: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” (1 John 3:1) It is an equally great privilege that the Lord Jesus Christ is our brother. Jesus is “not ashamed to call [us] brothers” (Hebrews 2:11). As the preeminent Son of the Father, Jesus is the heir of all things. And yet, with great love for His people, Jesus shares all of His inheritance with us, so that we are called “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).

RESPONSIBILITY: LOVE ONE ANOTHER

There can be no doubt that our most basic responsibility as God’s family is to love one another:

“We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers.” (1 John 3:14)

“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him.” (1 John 5:1)

This love that we have for one another must be displayed visibly and practically: “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:18)

We are God’s family – an interconnected and interdependent family – and this leads us to the next snapshot.

V. We are Christ’s body

Fifth, we are Christ’s body. This is one of the richest metaphors in all the New Testament. Paul digs deep into this metaphor in Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, and Colossians. Paul refers to the church as “one new man” in Ephesians 2:15. In this “one new man”, our Lord Jesus Christ is the head, and we who are His followers constitute His body.

There are many privileges associated with being the body of Christ. It means, first of all, that we are united to Christ, just as a body is united to its head. Just as a head directs the body because it is intimately connected to and communicative with the body, so Jesus directs church because He is intimately connected to and communicative with the body. According to Colossians 2:19, the whole body – the church – “grows with a growth that is from God” (Colossians 2:19) by depending upon and drawing strength from Jesus the Head.

Being the body of Christ also means that we occupy an exalted position in the universe. This privilege is often overlooked when we think about what it means to be the body of Christ. In Ephesians 1, Paul tells us that Christ has been seated at God’s right hand

“far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he [the Father] put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.” (Ephesians 1:21-23).

Think about how the head and body and feet are related to each other: it is clear that Christ’s body cannot be under His feet! If all things are under Christ’s feet, and if the church is Christ’s body, and if Christ’s feet are the lowest part of His body, then this means that all things are under the church’s feet, too. Paul told the church in Rome: “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.” (Romans 16:20) This is not meant to be a call to exercise political dominion or pursue Christian nationalism. It is meant, rather, to understand our spiritually exalted position in relationship to Christ. And Ephesians 2 confirms this observation: just as Jesus was raised up and seated in the heavenly places in Ephesians 1:20, so believers were made alive and raised up and seated with Jesus in the heavenly places in Ephesians 2:5-6. The church is “the fullness of [Jesus]” (Ephesians 1:23), and in Christ our Head we are clothed with dignity, honor, and authority – we don’t possess these things independently, but in union with Christ our Head.

Finally, being the body of Christ means that we are united and unified with one another. “There is one body” (Ephesians 4:4). “For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13). It cannot be otherwise. The church is “one new man” (Ephesians 2:15). Christ is the Head. Christ has one body, and His fullness fills that one body, and His body cannot be divided. Whether Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, male or female, we are “one body in Christ” (Romans 12:5). The body of Christ is diverse, but not divided. We come from diverse backgrounds; we have diverse personalities; and we have diverse giftings. The body has many members – it has many different parts with each part having its own function – but it is one body that is meant to operate harmoniously under Christ’s leadership.

RESPONSIBILITY: BE DEPENDENT ON CHRIST AND INTERDEPENDENT WITH EACH OTHER

What is our responsibility as the body of Christ? Our basic responsibility as the body of Christ is to be dependent on Christ and interdependent with one another. That we should depend upon Christ as our Head, Leader, and Nourisher is plain and straightforward: “[hold] fast to the Head” (Colossians 2:19). But sometimes we forget that we ought to be practicing interdependence with each other.

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul says that some members of the church body are like a hand, and some are like an eye, some are like an ear, and some are like a nose, and so on. Just as every part of the physical body is needful for the overall and effective functioning of the body, so it is with the spiritual body. Some have a bent to teach. Some have a bent to lead. Some have a bent to administrate. Some have a bent to encourage. Some have a bent to show mercy. Some have a bent to help. Some have a bent to stand up and speak. Some have a bent to operate in behind-the-scenes support roles. All are necessary. All are important. Just as a highly coordinated physical body is capable of efficient and productive action, so a highly coordinated spiritual body, operating with the wisdom of Christ in love for one another and with a commitment to His mission, bears tremendous fruit for the glory of God.

A CLEAR LESSON: WE MUST FOLLOW JESUS TOGETHER

Before I get to the final snapshot for today, I just want to pause and call attention to the fact that these descriptions of the church make it clear that we must not be solitary Christians who attempt to follow Jesus in isolation from our fellow believers.

Take the temple metaphor: we are living stones who are being built up as a spiritual house. Not isolated stones doing our own thing wherever we choose, but stones that have been placed together in an integrated fashion so that worship ascends from the house of God, so that with one heart and one voice we are offering praise to God (Romans 15:6).

Take the family metaphor: we are brothers and sisters to each other, members of the same family, duty bound to demonstrate love to each other even as Christ has demonstrated love to us.

Take the body metaphor: we are incorporated into a single body and each member of the body has a vital function in order to support the life, work, and growth of the body. Although Christ doesn’t need us, He chooses to work through all of us in order to grow all of us:

“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (Ephesians 4:15-16)

Christ is the source of our growth, but He works through all of us in order to bring about that growth, and the body experiences spiritual growth when “each part [of the body] is working properly”. May I ask you if you are “working properly”? There are many ways to work improperly: you can not do what you’re supposed to do or you can do what you’re not supposed to do. You can do too much or you can do too little. When we all work properly, we build ourselves up in love.

VI. We are Christ’s bride

Last but certainly not least, we are Christ’s bride.

My family has been enjoying the British drama “All Creatures Great and Small”. If you’re not familiar with it, it shows us the life and work and relationships of the rural veterinarian James Herriot. Like any realistic drama that reflects the good world that God made, sooner or later there must be romance, and romance means a little kissing. These brief kissing scenes are quite clearly the part of the drama that my older kids would gladly do without. They don’t like it. And that’s fine. But I was explaining to one of my older kids that the reason why romance and kissing show up in all kinds of places, including the British drama that we enjoy, is that marriage is the fundamental reason why the universe exists.

Now I know that this statement might seem like an overstatement, but rightly understood, I don’t think it’s an overstatement. I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that God the Father made the universe in order to provide a beautiful bride for His beloved Son. Do you think that’s an overstatement?

When you turn to the beginning of the Bible and read Genesis 1-2, what do you see? God creates heaven and earth (the big picture), plants a garden (a beautiful place to call home), and all of that sets the stage for the first man and first woman to be joined together in holy marriage. That’s Genesis 1-2. Then if you turn to the end of the Bible and read Revelation 21, what do you see? God creates a new heaven and a new earth (the big picture), and what occupies center stage in the new creation is the glorious marriage between the Lamb and His bride, the church.

The Bible begins with marriage. The Bible ends with marriage. And from Genesis 2 all the way down to the present day, billions of human beings have enjoyed the gift of marriage, and each marriage is meant to be a reflection of the ultimate marriage that God has appointed between Christ and His bride. Of course, the best human marriages fall short of this ideal, and some marriages are so unloving that they make a complete mockery of God’s design.

But just as the first man, Adam, obtained His bride by descending into sleep while God surgically removed part of His side in order to form His bride, so Jesus obtained His bride by descending into the sleep of death and being wounded for the sins of His people. Paul wrote in Ephesians 5,

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25-27)

The privilege of being the bride of Christ is that we are dearly loved by Christ. It has been well said that the storyline of the Bible is that the true Prince slays the dragon in order to get the girl. And so it is. Though we were sinful and blemished in so many ways, Christ set His affection upon us, and loved us with an everlasting love, and paid the price of our redemption, and satisfied His Father’s justice, and dealt a death-blow to the enemy of our souls. He loved us. He gave Himself for us. He took our sin and death upon Himself, to the end that He share His life and righteousness with us.

What greater privilege can we have, than to have the Lord of glory as our faithful Husband who loves us, delights in us, redeems us? This divine romance, if you will, is full of dramatic tension because of our own rebellion, but in the end it gives us unspeakable comfort:

“Fear not, for you will not be ashamed;
    be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced;
for you will forget the shame of your youth,
    and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.
For your Maker is your husband,
    the LORD of hosts is his name;
and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
    the God of the whole earth he is called.
For the LORD has called you
    like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit,
like a wife of youth when she is cast off,
    says your God.
For a brief moment I deserted you,
    but with great compassion I will gather you.
In overflowing anger for a moment
    I hid my face from you,
but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”
    says the LORD, your Redeemer.” (Isaiah 54:4-8)

As the bride of Christ, what is the responsibility that we owe to our Redeemer-Husband? There can be no doubt: we ought to be single-minded in our devotion to Christ. Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth,

“For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:1-3)

Sincere and pure devotion, single-minded devotion, faithfulness, purity, fidelity. Spiritual fidelity. Doctrinal fidelity. Moral fidelity. Relational fidelity – to the Lord and to each other. We make ourselves ready for that great day of marital bliss in the new heavens and the new earth by living righteously and wholeheartedly for the Lord each and every day of our lives. We look forward to that day when we, resplendent with divine grace, are led into the very presence of the King:

“All glorious is the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold. In many-colored robes she is led to the king, with her virgin companions following behind her. With joy and gladness they are led along as they enter the palace of the king.” (Psalm 45:13-15)

As I was saying, marriage is the fundamental reason why the universe exists. 

Even so, no metaphor by itself is adequate to communicate all that the church is. We are Christ’s beloved bride, Christ’s interconnected body, God’s spiritual family, God’s holy temple, God’s graced people. As such, we pursue holiness, work together, love each other, offer spiritual sacrifices to our Father in heaven, and proclaim His excellencies for all to hear. Let us understand these things rightly; let us esteem the church highly; let us live out these privileges faithfully; and let us sing out with hearts full of faith and joy.

ENDNOTES

[1] Bryan Jeffery Leech, “We Are God’s People”. © 1976 by Fred Bock Music Co. In The Hymnal for Worship & Celebration; Waco: Word Music, 1986: Hymn 283.