The Church—God’s Home and Our Home
The Church—God’s Home
The church is where God finds His home. The church is the house of God, the “dwelling place of God in spirit” (Eph. 2:22). Just as home is where man can dwell peacefully, the church as God’s house is also where God can dwell peacefully on the earth. The church is where He can put His trust and find His home, His resting place.
The church is where God can express His heart’s desire. The color, layout, decoration, and furnishing of a house all express the owner’s heart’s desire. If you have something which cannot be spoken to non-family members, you can say it when you get home. Home is the best place to express one’s heart’s desire. Likewise, God’s heart’s desire can only be expressed in the church, and only the church can know it. Thus, if we want to know God’s heart’s desire, we need to live in the church. There are many things which we cannot understand no matter how much we consider them, but when we go into the sanctuary of God, suddenly we become clear about them (Psa. 73:17).
The church is where God is with man. The church on the one hand is God’s dwelling place, where God resides; on the other hand, it is the assembly of God’s family and is where God’s people have their activities. Thus, the church is where God is with man. From the beginning to the end, the Bible shows that God’s greatest desire is to be with man.
The Church—Our Home
The church is our home. Before coming into the church, we were wandering. We never had the sense that we have come home or that we had reached our destination. But the day we came into the church, we realized that we had come home. After wandering for so many years, we knew that we have finally reached our destination. When we first came into the church life, something deep within seemed to say, “This is it,” and we knew that we were home.
The church is where God’s family members show kindness and love to one another. The book of Ephesians says: “So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God” (2:19). “The household of God” describes the warmth and love in a family. Just as a family should be full of the atmosphere of love, forgiveness, and acceptance, God’s family members should love, forgive, and accept one another. The church is where brothers and sisters show kindness and love to one another.
The church is where God’s family members care for and serve one another. In a normal family, there are old as well as young ones, mature as well as little ones. Since everyone is at different stages of growth in life, those who are mature in life would take care of those who are young in life, and those who are stronger in life would serve those who are weaker in life. A normal sign of the church as the house of God is that the saints take care of and serve one another.