The best thing you can do is to nourish holy affections - affections for the best things. The Bible makes it clear that the church is a treasure. Are you growing your love for your local church? Ephesians 2:19 reveals three descriptive metaphors that illuminate such treasure. All the metaphors for the church in the Bible reveal her beauty, complexity, purpose, and functionality. All of them teach us how to relate to the church. All of them argue that we should grow affection for our local churches.

Thank you Jason. What a blessing it is to consider how to use the years of your life in a way that glorifies God. And of course, you know, one of the things that we want to say, and Jason said it so well, use your single years for the greatest advantage for the kingdom of God and the glory of God. You've been given years. And the truth is, if you don't use your time for the glory and the kingdom of God when you're not married, you probably won't when you are married.

So it's so critical. And I really appreciated, you know, Jason's kind of idea, stop thinking there's only life, there's life only after marriage. It's just not true. And so I want to talk about this whole idea of holiness and particularly developing holy affections. It's so critical that you train your soul, train your conscience for holy affections.

And one of those holy affections is for being a holy nation. And the Church is a holy nation. And so I want to keep talking here about the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ as a holy nation. So I want you to open your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 2 and find verse 19. The Word of God is the source book for holy affections.

Jeff Johnson last night was very helpful to help us understand that our affections are always under siege. That we're in a war and the thoughts that we have and the intentions of our heart are under siege by the devil. The devil wants to capture your soul. And so he does it primarily through our affections and our affections are changed by the word of God. We need truth, We need to put on the belt of truth because the devil is always lying to us.

And so these are words of truth about holiness and particularly the participation in a holy nation. A holy Christian forms the substance of this holy nation called the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. So this is the inerrant all-sufficient Word of God. Verse 19 in Ephesians 2, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you are also being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. You've just heard a description of what it means to be in the church.

And you are in a nation as a fellow citizen, you are in a family, in a household, you are in a building, you are in a temple, which is the dwelling place of God. So this is just how important the church is in the world. And the Bible makes it clear that the Church of Jesus Christ is a treasure. And so There are so many metaphors to explain, to try to grasp this beautiful thing called the Church because it's such a treasure. All of the metaphors in the Bible reveal the beauty and the complexity and the purpose and the functionality of the church.

And all of the metaphors teach us how to relate to the church. And of course, my great appeal here at this conference here is to appeal to you to make a big deal, maybe a bigger deal out of local church life than you have. You know, actually, this is the goal of preaching. The goal of preaching, says Martin Lloyd-Jones, is to move people from one position to another. I'm trying to move people from one position to another, shamelessly.

And so I don't know what your position is, But I at least want to move you to this position in Ephesians chapter 2. And so I pray that the Lord would allow this movement. And you know what I pray? I pray that you're like David when he said, I'm like a green olive tree in the house of my God. I trust in the mercy of God forever.

Hey, when you go to the Church of Jesus Christ, you're going to hear about the mercy of God. So, it's so significant because all Christians ought to be involved in this building project called the building of the body of Christ. We are actually living stones in this building. And I want us to just take a fresh look at the church to see how precious the church really is to God. And if it is to God, then it ought to be precious to us.

And I also, I want us to see the richness that we have. I want us to see what we have in the church, because it's so significant. I want us to see that her sacred beauty, her functionality, I want us to see what's going on here in the church so that we can see what we have. Do you know what you have in the church? And also, on the other hand, I want everyone to know what you're missing, if you're missing it.

And these metaphors are very helpful because we are being brought into a life that's not our own, a life that God designed. This institution is God's institution. It's the most important institution on the planet. As we said last night, it's the only institution that God is building in the world, and you ought to be part of it. You ought to get in it and do it the way that God has has planned.

The other thing that we know about the church from Matthew 16 18 is the church will never fail. If you invest your life in the Church of Jesus Christ you're investing your life in something that will not fail. You can get involved in a lot of institutions. Guess what? They come, they go.

They last for a decade or two or three and then they're gone. Not so with the church. It lasts forever. So the church is so significant. I spoke briefly about Christ's love for the church last night, that we ought to put on the mind of Christ for the church.

The apostle said, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. That means that our mind needs to be changed. We put on the mind of Christ for everything that we do, for our church life, for our family life, for our work life, for everything that we're doing. We're always involved in putting on that belt of truth and putting on the mind of Christ in everything that we do. Just also the whole matter of being a highly focused people, being a highly focused people on the things that the church does, being steadfastly devoted to the Apostles doctrine, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to the prayers.

These are tests and measurements of a person's behavior in the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. So I want to take a look at Two metaphors now in greater depth than just mentioning them, because we've mentioned them already. And the church is a nation. We are fellow citizens with the saints in a nation. The church is a national entity and it's composed of fellow citizens.

Those fellow citizens are saints. They are holy ones. They are holy people. They are the people for whom holiness is to the Lord. Everything is holiness to the Lord.

This is a kingdom, a nation where God rules. His rules rule in the kingdom, in the nation of the church. Christians belong to a different nation. You might be U.S. Citizens, but you are also citizens of heaven.

The nation state of the United States might go away, but the nation state of the church will never go away. And that's where our citizenship is. That's why Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world. It's a different kingdom. And the church and her members, and you need to understand this, are not a part of mass humanity.

The church does not take her instructions from humanity. The church doesn't take her instructions from the nations. The church takes her instructions from the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And frankly, it's always been this way, but the kingdoms of the world are not comfortable with the kingdom of God. They are never comfortable with the kingdom of God.

And they always try to do what they do to control the kingdom of God. And they can never do it. They can't pull it off. It never works. You can even kill them and they just pop up.

The church is kind of like a big whack-a-mole game. You just whack one down here and they pop up somewhere else. It's impossible to destroy the church. Don't ever fear the nation destroying the church. It will not happen.

So you might as well have fun while they're trying to do it. But we are citizens of the kingdom of God. And Now, the truth is, every person is either a citizen of the Kingdom of God or they are a foreigner to the Kingdom of God. Some of you are probably foreigners to the Kingdom of God, and I pray that you would enter into the kingdom of God and love his ways. So the church is like a nation in this sense.

The church has its own polity. The church doesn't adopt the polity of the nations. Like the church is not designed to look like the United States government. The government of the church is very unlike the United States government, actually. And polity is a word that means city in Greek, and it's referring to administrative centers, which are like cities, like Athens and Sparta in Greece.

And the polity or the polis refers to the administrative center. And that's why we refer to church polity. The administrative center of the church is Jesus Christ. He is the head of the Church. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

Not just of the Church, but of everything else as well. So we are members of a nation. Now, in a nation, there are borders. There's so much controversy about borders today, isn't there? You know, you have our southern border, massive controversy.

You have the Ukrainian border, You know, where thousands of troops have swept across the Ukrainian border. Just a few months ago they were poised on the Ukrainian border and then they crossed the Ukrainian border. And the church has borders as well. There are those who are inside the border and there are those who are outside the border. And in the kingdom of the church, there's only one way to get inside the border of the kingdom of God that is through Jesus Christ there's all it's the only way so nations maintain their own laws nations have their own system of government this is their polity and the church has its own polity And you should learn the polity of the church, particularly from the New Testament.

So the whole flow of Ephesians 2, though, just in context, is that in the church we are no longer strangers. We are fellow citizens. We are part of a kingdom. You know, one of the greatest sermons that we have is Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. It's called by theologians the Manifesto of the King, and it explains the Kingdom of God.

And This whole idea of the church as a kingdom is all over the Bible. In Exodus 19, this whole principle is prefigured. You are a kingdom of priests. This is repeated in Revelation 1.6 and in 1 Peter 2.9. You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

So citizens of states, they have privileges and they have responsibilities. And it's like being an American citizen. We have Privileges, we have many privileges. I'm pretty sure we have more privileges than any other nation in the world. You might be discouraged about, you know, the direction of America.

There's a lot to be discouraged about, but it's still the freest nation in the world. It's still the real it's literally the only bastion of freedom that exists on the planet today. You're freer than any other people. But citizens have privileges and there are many, many privileges in the Kingdom of God, in the Church of Jesus Christ. And along with the privileges come duties as well.

And, You know, if you think about the way that the nations treat their citizens, and then think about how Christ treats his citizens, would you rather be under the King of Kings than the kings in the nations of the world. The Lord Jesus Christ is a shepherd to His citizens. He's a giver of life to His citizens. Our King says, you shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free. The nations of the world always want to put you in bondage.

And by the way, you should never expect anything else than that. Like don't be rattled. That's what they do. That's what they do by nature. And this is how the people of God have such privileges because they belong to a different kingdom.

They belong to a different nation, states. But you know, nations have different cultures as well. It's remarkable, isn't it? The different cultures that exist. And churches are designed to have a particular culture.

There is no more beautiful culture than the culture that Jesus Christ has designed for his church. If you look at all the relational commands, the way that we're to treat one another, to think the best of one another, to forgive one another, to speak the truth in love to one another, to look past one another's sins. It's amazing. Really, it's the most beautiful culture that any culture ever has known. There's no company in the world that has a better culture than the Kingdom of God.

Companies get really proud of their culture. Come and be a part of our culture. There's nothing like the culture of the kingdom of God. You know, it reminds me, Deborah and I have been married for 40 years, and we went to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary, we went to the island of Barbados because it was on the island of Barbados that the gospel came to Deborah's family and it changed everything. Sometime in the 18th or the 19th century her relatives were probably white slaves working in the plantations on the island of Barbados.

That's what we think. But we went back to Barbados to try to trace their tracks and to trace the genealogy, go to the churches that they went to. Their names are actually recorded in the 1800s in these churches. So we went back there. It was really, We just wanted to reminisce about the kindness of God in our family, that God saved some people in her family, and the flow of the gospel kept rolling in her family, all the way to her, and I got to marry her, because the gospel came to her family on the island of Barbados.

But Barbados has a really interesting culture. Like for example, Like if you go to New York and people honk their horns at you, it's because they hate you. But it was so amazing to be on the island of Barbados. When the locals honk their horn at you, they're saying, after you, bro. Ha ha ha.

They're saying, hi. They're not hitting you over the head. They're honking you because they love you. Remember that old bumper sticker, honk if you love Jesus? Well, that's what they do.

They honk because that's their culture. But the culture of the church is a beautiful culture because God is the designer of the culture. And the church is a holy nation. It has the most wonderful laws. So I guess what I'm here to say is understand that when you're part of the Church of Jesus Christ, you're part of a holy nation.

And in that holy nation are these local assemblies and in those local assemblies are the people of God who are building that nation you're a nation builder within the nation And the best place to do that is the local church. It's the place of greatest freedom You know, I'm concerned about what's going on in our country on The one hand but frankly on the other hand, I don't really care because we have a little church and we have laws and we have ways of operating together and that makes us strong. Whatever the nations of the earth do, let them do it. But we live in a nation where Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. There's no nation like it.

And then, just to continue with this matter of the diversities of the beauties of the church let's talk about the church as a family Ephesians 2 speaks of it the church is a is a household and the members are brothers and sisters Everybody has a family in the Church of Jesus Christ. There are no fatherless in the Church of Jesus Christ. There are no motherless children in the Church of Jesus Christ because you're a family. And if your family is destroyed by sin or death or something like that, you can always have a family. God has made it so that there is an opportunity for every person on the planet to have a spiritual father and a spiritual mother and spiritual siblings.

That's how kind God is. You know sin wreaks havoc in families, but if you're in the family of God, you have an everlasting family. Nothing will break up that family. But we are members of God's household. Charles Spurgeon said that there are mansions for the homeless souls in the Church of Jesus Christ.

So with this metaphor of the family there's a different angle. The relationship we have with a state is different than we have with the family. A family is more personal. We are a holy nation, but not only that, we have a personal connection. It's a family connection.

So the language of Scripture says not only is the church a holy nation, like something big, where you have a big nation, it's also a family where there is more intimacy and more knowledge. And it reveals this smaller unit of relationship. The state has many people but a family has fewer people. But again these illustrations are just given to us to to wrap our minds around what God is doing and what he wants to do with you. He wants you to be a nation builder and he wants you to be a family builder in a local assembly.

It's a great way to spend your single years. That's what I did. I spent my single years dedicated, wholly dedicated, to the life and ministry of a local church in the midst of my studies, in the midst of my work and things like that. The church was the center when I was in my 20s. I'm so glad it was.

It still is today. And I'm here to appeal to you. Make it that way in your life. There are many blessings. There are family rules.

And in 1 Timothy 3, 14, the Apostle Paul says, I'm writing these things to you that you might know how to conduct yourself in the household of God there's a way that you conduct yourself in the household of God it's not your house it's God's house you can't do anything you want to do in God's house you You play by the family rules that God has established. We're not allowed to do our own thing in the church. We're only allowed to live by the family rules. And they're so beautiful. Rules and they're so beautiful in fact the mark of a Christian is their love for their brothers that's family language first John 4 21 if someone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar.

For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, that he who loves God must love his brother also. That's family business. And if you don't love your brother, if you're not loving your brother, and you say you love God, then you're a liar. Now the truth is, a true Christian might fall into despising his brother, but God would never keep him there.

God would never want him to stay there, but that he would repent and turn and begin to love his brother and to treat his brother like a Christian. So this fellowship is very very personal and how do you get into the family? You're adopted into the family of God. All of God's children are adopted children and they are brought into a new family and they are children in this family with brothers and sisters who live in close proximity to one another. The church is meant to be a close proximity institution where people look one another in the eye and they have some idea of what's going on in their lives.

This happens every Wednesday night when we get our church together to pray. We open it up for prayer. People start praying, and they start praying for one another, because they know one another. In our prayer meetings, I learn things about what's going on in our church from the prayers that people are praying. Because one brother knows what's going on in another brother's life that I didn't even know about.

Now I know. I'm so glad to know. So glad to pray along with Him. But you're brought into a family, and there's close proximity in that family. And you get into that family through adoption.

And you know you're in that family when you're the spirit cries out within you Abba father that's the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit in you says I have a father I am following the Son of my Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe in the Father. He's my Father. I believe in Him. I trust in Him.

I receive His Son. I love the things that His Son is all about. I embrace the narrative of the Bible about the Father and the Son and He's my Father. That's how you get into the Kingdom of God, is by knowing that you have a Father through Jesus Christ. And God is the one who planned it all.

In Ephesians 1.5, we learn that we were predestined before the foundation of the world to adoption as sons. In Galatians 4.5, we learn that we were purchased off of a slave block. We were slaves to the devil. And He redeemed those who are under the law that we might receive the adoption as sons, bought off the slave block to be adopted by Jesus Christ. So now you have a Father, the Father of mercies.

And it's a mercy that gives birth to so much freedom. In Romans 8, 15, we're told that this adoption is a freedom. For you did not receive the spirit of adoption again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Children of God in the family of God adopted by God.

And this all happens in the context of the local church, where actual people get together who've been adopted and they rejoice in their adoption. They teach one another, they speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. They're singing and making melody in their hearts to the Lord, they're hungering for the Word of God, they're applying the Word of God, they're doing the things that God has designed for His church. There's a very beautiful explanation of this adoption in James Fisher's catechism. You should get it.

James Fisher's catechism. It's free on the internet. It's such a remarkably beautiful catechism. What is adoption? Answer?

Adoption is an act of God's free grace whereby we are received into the number and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God. Isn't that good? What does the word adoption signify among men? Answer. It signifies the taking of a stranger into a family and dealing with him as if he were a child or an heir.

Question. What is to be understood by special adoption? Answer. It is a sovereign and free translation of a sinner of mankind. From the family of hell or Satan into the family of heaven or household of God, with an investiture into all the privileges of the sons of God?

Question. By whose act and authority is this translation accomplished? By the act and authority of God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And by what means or instrument does God receive any of mankind into His family? By the means and instrumentality of faith ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus Galatians 3 26 oh it's so rich I'm gonna quit reading it there are many more questions and answers to it but they're very wonderful they all say one thing you're adopted into a family the church is a family it's a household and there are house rules and there are house relationships There's ways that we treat one another and conduct ourselves with one another.

By the way, you can't obey the New Testament unless you're in a local church, because that's where all this is lived out. It's lived out with people you know. All of the relational commands weren't meant to be lived out in some ethereal realm in your brain. They were meant to be lived out with real people, real imperfect people in process. People who bug you, people who have different thoughts than you do, and guess what?

It's the greatest thing that happens in your life. Because it puts you even in conflict where you have rules for the conflict, and you're not your own. So the church is a family. So, during your single years, recognize the greatest priority of your schedule and the focus of your life ought to be the only institution that Jesus Christ is building. And it's a nation, and its conduct is like a nation state, and it's a family, and its relationships are like a family.

You know, interesting, often people who aren't married, they wonder how they're supposed to relate, you know, with the opposite sex. It's kind of awkward, you know, They feel very awkward in it. And I think there's some kind of natural awkwardness that actually is from God, because there's this sort of dance that has to go on. It's something that is part of nature. But the truth is you shouldn't be so uptight about it.

Because you should treat the opposite sex like a brother or a sister. You should just treat them like a Christian. You know how to treat a brother or a sister. Treat the members of the opposite sex like a brother and a sister. Don't act like you're an opposite magnet, you know.

You know, never, oh no, don't get too close, you know. No, don't act like that. That's not how we act in the church That's not how you act in a family. You don't avoid one another in the family So loosen up if you need to be loosened up. I have a habit of saying something.

I've said it many times and I'm gonna say it again right here if you do not love the Church of Jesus Christ how can you say that you love him When I find people who have never loved the Church of Jesus Christ and they don't now and they don't intend to, I don't believe they're Christians. I don't believe you can be a Christian and not love the church. Because we're not talking about this ethereal thing called the church out in space. When we say love the church, we're always talking about people in the church. Real people with real problems.

So, do you see the value of your citizenship in a nation, of your adoption into a family, into your being led into the building, actually being a living stone in the building. One pastor who was murdered in World War II said this about the Church, the physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer. So do you see the value of the church? That's my whole argument. Do you see the beauty of the church?

That's my whole argument. Do you see your responsibility to the church? That's my intention. I hope that the Scripture has made it clearer for what your life in a local church ought to be like. And I do pray that all of you would have the experience of David when he said, Behold how good and how pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell together in unity.

And that unity is a unity of the Spirit in Jesus Christ. It's not thinking the same thing about everything. It's about the essential unity of the body of Christ. Our unity is in Him. And so in the midst of the processes of life, we're all growing to become like Him.

So use your single years for the greatest advantage of the kingdom of God by investing your greatest and most precious energies into a local church. Do the work with excellence exercise your gifts pour out your soul for your family for your nation for your building for your flock for your vineyard for you the bride for the pillar and the ground of the truth. Would you pray with me? Lord, Your ways are such pleasant ways. All Your paths are peace.

I confess to You how glorious is Your Church, the way you designed it. I pray, O Lord, that you would do a great work in all of our hearts to get busy in the building, to do with all of our hearts, and to do it with excellence and focus and priority. Amen.