You may come to church and say, “I’m not so sure that I’m like other people here.” Then I would respond, “That is exactly why you are needed there.” God created you as a one-of-a-kind. He redeems what he created. What He has placed in believers by creation, He has now redeemed for the good of His church and for the ultimate glory of His Son.

In him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit (Eph. 2:22).

If you’ve ever been discouraged with the church, if you’ve ever felt like giving up on the church (like most Christians at some point in their lives), then this article is for you. The Bible’s image of the church as a building is what you need to grasp so that you will be able to sustain a lifetime of ministry within the body of Christ, wherever He places you.

Building of People

When Jesus said, “I will build my church” (Matt. 16:18), he was talking about people. This image shows that the purpose of our Lord is that he wants to build us together. Peter, who is referred to as “the stone” or “the rock”, picks up this same theme saying, “You [are] living stones” (1 Peter 2:5). Christ is putting together a building that’s made up of people, and each of us is like a living stone.

But the picture here isn’t a building with bricks, but with stones—which come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, colors. They are hewn out of a quarry and come out with rough edges. The great skill of the Master Builder is to fit them together so that each one finds its special place within the building.

One of the joys of travelling in Scotland is seeing the “Drystane Dykes” (dry stone walls). These walls have no mortar—they are simply stones. The whole point of it is that the strength of the wall depends on the placing and the shape of each individual stone. It is something like this that the Apostle Paul describes in Ephesians 2:22—each of us is like a living stone. We all have our own individuality, and Christ uses this as He builds His church.

You may come to church and say, “I’m not so sure that I’m like other people here.” Then I would respond, “That is exactly why you are needed there.” God created you as a one-of-a-kind. He redeems what he created. What He has placed in believers by creation, He has now redeemed for the good of His church and for the ultimate glory of His Son.

Work in Progress

The Apostle tells us in Ephesians 2:21 that “the whole building… rises to become…” God’s building is not yet complete. So, no one should be surprised if the local church looks and feels more like a building site than a showroom.

The church is made up of ordinary people who are in the process of being redeemed, all of us sinners in the process of being renewed. It was Augustine who described the church as “a hospital for sinners.” He said it would be very strange if people were to criticize hospitals because the patients were sick. The whole point of the hospital is that people are there because they’re sick, and they haven’t yet recovered.

Set your expectations of the local church wisely. It’s hard enough for two sinners to make a good marriage. So how much harder is it for 200 sinners or 2,000 sinners to make a good church? When we see Him we will be like Him, but until then we are like a building under construction.

In any congregation of believers, you will find that there are things not yet done and things that are out of place. Some things need to be taken down, other things need to be cleaned up. Many things are only roughed in and need to be finished. It will always be like that until Jesus Christ comes.

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