Build a Church, Not an Ark
A particular song caught my attention as a young man. The song's title was "Build an Ark." Its basic theme was a reaction to "all the villains, all the killing, all the men who make the laws just to break them any time they please." The writer laments, "Sometimes I swear I feel the way Noah did when the Lord commanded, 'Build an ark, head for the open water, save your sons and your daughters, build an ark.'" Later on, he imagines how great such a scenario would be, saying, "We'll be safe from the world around us. All we have to do is love each other…and build an ark."
The song was sung well but seemed dissonant. Weary though we may be of lawbreaking and violence, is the avoidance of the world around us the proper stance for the church of Jesus Christ? In looking at the biblical picture of the church, it would seem that the inhabitants of such a vessel would be floating in open water with an "uneasy conscience." The gospel itself doesn't allow us to take such an avoidant stance. Instead, our biblically-grounded understanding of the church as an outpost of the kingdom of God drives us to represent Christ to the world proactively.
Scripture describes the kingdom of God as the people of God living in God's place under the rule and blessing of God. The kingdom pattern was demonstrated in the lives of Adam and Eve, shattered in the fall, promised to Abraham and his descendants, partially realized in the time of Israel's kings, and prophesied to the exiles who lived as such because of their rebellion against God. When Jesus comes in the gospels, he announces the in-breaking of the kingdom of God by saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15). This good news centered on the in-breaking of the kingdom of God by the King himself. Jesus dwelt among us and revealed God to us (John 1:14,18). Kingdom life is thus found only in Christ (John 14:6, 17:3), purchased and eternally secured by his substitutionary death and victorious resurrection. Those who trust in Christ by faith are citizens of his kingdom now and proclaim his death until he comes triumphantly to perfect all that he began.
Citizens of Christ's kingdom gather in churches—outposts of the kingdom of God—to build one another up in the word of God and equip one another to do the work of ministry (Eph. 4:11-16). Proclaiming the kingdom of God that has come in the person and work of Jesus Christ is the primary ministry of the church. Our ministry is our public theology: the demonstration of our citizenship in the kingdom of God through Christ. We mustn't wall ourselves off from the culture but rather build up the church of Jesus Christ to be a kingdom outpost in the public square for the glory of God and the good of the world. The church is a city on a hill, the light of the world (Matt. 5:14).
Churches thus have a distinct evangel, a particularly good message. Our proclamation of the kingdom of God in Christ is our message. We declare his glory and invite all in our hearing to come to Christ in faith. We implore them to join his kingdom and flourish in his reign. But the church doesn't only proclaim the evangel; the church participates in an ethic. Ethics, for the local church, are the attitudes and actions of kingdom citizens. We preach a specific message, and we live correspondingly. Christ gave us instructions on teaching one another (Matt. 28:20) and how to live together before a watching world (Matt. 5-7). Thus, we defend the helpless because citizens of Christ's kingdom know the merciful are blessed. We make peace because the sons of God are marked by such behavior. We are meek in the public square because the earth is our inheritance. We live so that the culture will see our citizenship and give glory to the Lord of the city.
As a representation of God's kingdom, the church doesn't back away from the culture but fortifies itself in the truth of Scripture to believe rightly and live rightly in the public square. We have both an evangel and an ethic. Thus, we needn't build an ark. God did that once, and the rainbow in the sky following a storm reminds us that his bow of war was hung in the clouds. His arrow won't be aimed in our direction that way again. Instead, he pierced his own Son as a substitute for all who trust in him, and he built something much more consequential than an ark. He built a church.