1 Timothy 3:14-15 (NIV):  Although I hope to come to you soon, I am writing you these instructions so that, if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

Paul saw very clearly what the Church is, what it was created and designed to be:  it is God’s household, and the pillar and foundation of the truth.

It is God’s household.  The Church itself is not a building, but it is the place where He dwells.  The God of the universe no longer makes His presence known in a particular building in a particular city as He did in the days when the temple was standing in Jerusalem.  He now inhabits His people, dwelling in us through the presence of the Holy Spirit, and manifesting His power and His love through us.  Together, God’s people don’t GO to Church; we ARE the Church, God’s house, God’s dwelling place, God’s household.

The Church is the pillar of the truth.  Pillars are vital structural elements that support the weight of the structure and the roof.  These days people try to support the philosophies that are at the core of their lives with many different things.  But they all come crashing down eventually.  Only in the Church is there free access to the Truth, who is Jesus, and to the truth that is found in God’s word, the Scriptures.  Together these can support our faith and a kingdom life through whatever earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes, both physical and spiritual, that this sin-broken world can throw at us.

The Church is the foundation of the truth.  Because the Church is built on Jesus Himself, the only true foundation (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:11), it is built on something utterly unshakable, a solid rock that will enable the Church to stand strong, even though the storms and floods of this world pound against it (cf. Matthew 7:26-27).

Today the Church in many places has an identity crisis.  We have forgotten who we are, and so we live our lives as if we were just “people,” like all other people, but who just happen to believe in Jesus.  We don’t see ourselves as God’s people, God’s dwelling place, the place where God’s very presence is manifested in the world, both as a group, and as individuals.  We don’t see ourselves as the pillar of the truth that is tasked with bringing that truth to the whole world.  We have forgotten that, because our foundation is Jesus Himself, we are the very foundation of the truth, a solid place in a crazy world to which anyone can come and find the stability that they crave in Jesus.  All of this is actually true of us, because we, God’s Church, are founded on that which is not only true, but eternal.

We, as God’s people, need to wake up, to shake off the paradigm of church that is more like an organization or a club, and recapture (or, for many, to see clearly for the first time) who we really are in God’s sight, who we were designed to be.  God needs us to be the Church as He designed us to be, growing God’s kingdom, and making it a reality in every corner of the world today.

Father, You are absolutely right.  Far too few of us really understand who we are as Your Church.  We are not just people, we are YOUR people, and that changes everything.  We are Your dwelling place.  You don’t live in a building, but in us.  We, as Your holy people, are where you live, where Your presence is made known.  We are the pillar and foundation of the truth, because our own lives have been built on the unshakable Truth that is Jesus Himself.  Lord, if we can recapture this identity that we have in You, we really will be able to become salt and light in our world (Matthew 5:13-16).  Amen.