“You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14–16, CSB)
How do you define Church? Do you define it as a building? Do you define it as an organization or an association? The word church is often used in each of those ways, but there is a difference between church and Church—between how the word is often used and the Church as the bride of Christ.
Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, says that the Church is “a city situated on a hill.” The Church, if it is a city, has the distinctive characteristics of a city: 1) it has its own political reality, 2) it is defined by unique cultural values, and 3) and like every city it has its own definition of citizenship.
Now, describing the Church as having a political reality may seem crass or even irreverent, but it does by definition. Political refers to governance. A chief characteristic of different denominations is its polity—generally having some variant of the three main forms: congregational, presbyterian, or episcopal. But no matter the form, the Church understands herself to be under the Lordship of Christ Jesus. Whatever the polity, she must always recognize that the Church is Christ’s beloved own.
The central cultural value of the Church is to be holy. The true Church’s has as her twin loci faith and praxis. She maintains the faith “once received” and as a community provides loving accountability to the moral life outlined in God’s word. In, The Shepherd of Hermas, we are told to abandon false prophets, who “not having the power of a divine spirit in himself, answer [their audience] in accordance with their questions and their wicked desires, and fills their souls just as they themselves wish.” Today we see these false prophets acting in once faithful churches.
Finally, our citizenship is given at baptism. We come to the waters of baptism in faith. There, we take part in covenant acts given to us by the Lord Himself. And there the Lord brings His baptism of the Holy Spirit to give us new life and marks us as citizens of the kingdom.
The city of God must now shine the gospel light into a dark world. We are kingdom people proclaiming through word and action one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.