Another New Testament metaphor for the church:
The church is a building.
No, the church isn’t defined by the building it meets in. The group of believers called the church is God’s building (1 Corinthians 3:9), and each person in the church contributes something to the building. Some people build like Tim the Tool Man, with shoddy craftsmanship and substandard materials, but some people work to become excellent builders who know how to handle expensive, high-quality hardware (1 Cor. 3:12-15).
Ultimately, Jesus is the one who finishes the building. And he doesn’t settle for a single-wall tract home. Paul says Christ is building his church into a temple (Ephesians 2:21). You might be thinking, “That sounds nice. A temple.” But to Jewish people of Paul’s day, the temple in Jerusalem was the building by which all other buildings were judged. It was the pinnacle of craftsmanship, earthly grandeur, and spiritual significance.
Which means that Jesus is crafting his Church to become the pinnacle of society. And since the local church (small-c) is the visible manifestation of the universal Church (Big-C), that means every church family should be the pinnacle of love, grace, and truth in its community.