The Church

“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.” 1 Timothy 3:15 (NIV) 
        The Apostle Paul is here telling Timothy the reason for his letter—to instruct God’s people how to be the church. The church is literally Christ’s body on this earth, and as such, we are called to live responsibly before the watching world.
The New Testament teaches that a spiritual community is an alternative community—one in which the world can see that we actually believe in Jesus so much, that we’ve attributed so much intelligence to him, so much worth, that we matter of factly order our lives around becoming like him.
A spiritual community should be counter-cultural without being an escape from reality. Lives of sacrifice, humility, modesty, self-discipline, and preferring others are not considered normal in our society. But we must challenge the worldly norms around us, not by holding up signs that say, “God hates gays!”, but with lives of such love and goodness that they defy understanding, and cause outsiders to ask, ‘what is it that causes you to live this way?’
Christianity spread so rapidly in the early years of the church not because they out-argued the pagans, but because they outlived them! Their relationship to the world was not reactive, but proactive. They simply made Jesus their master and routinely gave to those who stole from them, loved those who mistreated them, blessed those who cursed them, lived humbly, and laid down their lives for others. They were the gospel in action—the gospel painted on the canvas of human lives. It was an irresistible force.
-Pastor Dino Griffin