The Church, and every local church, is, in the first place, a people who belong to Christ and whom He has redeemed and adopted in order to seek and advance His rule on earth as it is in heaven. We are the temple and dwelling-place of the Lord, the staging-ground and outpost from which He is advancing His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

Not only are we to think of ourselves as a glorious and holy temple, the dwelling-place of the Lord; we are also to consider that, in Christ’s vision for the Church, we are a holy nation, the Lord’s nation. When we think about what our churches should become, the metaphor of a nation should factor into our planning and ministries.

Our purpose is to become what the Lord declares us to be: a holy people, raised up by the Lord for the mission of proclaiming His praises to the world. As parts of a holy nation, local churches should think of themselves, what they would become, and how they should build in terms of three important components.

Three components

First, as parts of a holy nation, local churches require courageous and effective leaders.

Church leaders are called to be shepherds (Jer. 23.1-4; Eph. 4.11, 12; 1 Pet. 5.1-3), whose primary responsibility is to prepare the people of God for works of ministry. Not some of the people, all. In the holy nation of Christ – His Church – all the citizens are on active duty, all are called to the Kingdom and glory of the Lord, and all must be equipped by their leaders to serve in proclaiming, by word and deed, the excellencies of the Lord.

Second, a holy nation also requires a holy law, even the Law of God (Rom. 7.12). The citizens of Christ’s nation must be instructed in the ways of righteousness so that they may consider how to stimulate and encourage one another to walk the path of good works that Jesus walked according to the Law of God (Heb. 10.24; 1 Jn. 2.1-16).

If we are building our churches without recourse to the Law of God, we are not following the design and plan of the Chief Architect Himself, and we cannot expect to know the kind of Kingdom greatness Christ holds out to us (cf. Matt. 5.17-19).

Finally, like any nation, the holy nation which is the Church of our Lord Jesus possesses a sacred lore, by which it traces its history, declares its identity, and preserves its future.

The vast cultural heritage of the Christian church – in art, literature, education, theology, heroes, and good works of every kind – is ours to treasure, emulate, adopt and adapt, and pass on so that the Lord’s nation might continue beyond our day (Ps. 78.1-8).

Building a nation

As we build our churches, therefore, we must embrace this notion of a holy people unto the Lord – with leaders, a Law, and sacred lore by which we may establish our unique identity and mission among the peoples of the earth.

We are the temple of the Lord, and must devote ourselves to increasing in holiness and worshiping the Lord in Spirit and in truth. But we are a nation, a nation within and among the nations of the world, and we have more in common with Christians from all around the world than with our unbelieving fellow-citizens of the national entity we call our home.

Christ’s vision for the Church is that we should be a world-spanning nation of holy people, united in Him to declare His praises and embody His beauty, goodness, and truth. We are not building the Church as Jesus intends unless this idea of being the Lord’s nation looms large in our thinking, planning, and work.

Next steps

Does the “nation” of the Lord in your community actually look like such? Is it obvious to those outside the church that all the churches that believe in Christ and trust His Word are one people? Why or why not? Talk with some Christian friends from other churches about this question. Can you come up with any ideas for helping to actualize your Christian nationhood within your own community?

Additional Resources

Download this week’s study, Christ’s Vision for the Church.

Sign up for ViewPoint Leaders Training and start your own ViewPoint discussion group.

The Church is the flash point for revival, but only if we prepare for it as we should. Order a copy of T. M.’s book, Preparing Your Church for Revival, from our online store.

And men, download our free brief paper, “Men of the Church: A Solemn Warning,” by clicking here.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.