A People Who, Not a Place Where.

Modern life trains us to treat everything as a commodity — even church. In this opening message of The Household of God, we confront the consumer instinct head-on and recover the Bible’s language for the church: not an activity to attend but an identity to inhabit. Drawing from Ephesians 2:19–22 and 1 Timothy 3:14–15, we see that in Christ we are no longer strangers and outsiders but “members of the household of God.” The gospel reconciles us vertically to God and horizontally to one another, forming a people who belong to each other because we belong to Jesus.

This household isn’t built by preference or personality but by adoption (Gal. 4:4–7). God is Father; the church is His family; and our life together becomes a living temple, joined to Christ the cornerstone. Jesus marked the culture of this family with a single apologetic: love (John 13:34–35). In Acts 2:42–47, the early church’s shared meals, open homes, sacrificial generosity, and “one another” practices created a redemptive counterculture where needs were met and resurrection hope became visible.

Practically, this means moving from attending to abiding, from consuming to contributing, and from convenience to covenant. The New Testament’s 59 “one another” commands form the liturgy of family life: honoring, bearing burdens, forgiving, encouraging, and welcoming. We don’t become family by effort; we are made family by grace — and then we live into that identity by the Spirit.

The message closes with a call to belong, be known, and become family — because Jesus didn’t die to create a weekly event but a forever family gathered from every tribe and tongue. As we come to the Table, we remember it is His broken body and poured-out blood that has made us brothers and sisters, now and forever.