Hebrews 3:6 says: “But Christ was faithful as a Son over His house – whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.”
What is His “house”? It says here “whose house WE ARE.” The Bible indicates that those who demonstrate by their perseverance that they are genuine followers of Christ, constitute His house — WE are the house of God! This is just what I Cor. 6:19 tells us: “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.”

Many parents and church leaders have been guilty over the years of yelling at rowdy children: “Don’t run in the house of God!” Well, if those kids are Christians, they are indeed running in “the house of God”! Wherever they run they will be running in “the house of God” — they ARE the house of God! And so are we, as many of us who are true believers.

This should really affect our ministry outlook. The focus of so many in church work is on the physical buildings: to them, “building the church” means building more and prettier buildings. But we need to be reminded by this verse: WE are the house of God. This should impact and direct our ministry efforts. Instead of focusing on building the meeting places we gather in, our primary efforts should be directing at the building of “whose house we are” – growing the saints in the word, edifying them, and helping them become conformed to the image of Christ.

Too many pastors and churches would have to confess that over the years, they have missed the mark, spending an inordinate amount of time building and updating their meeting places, as if “building the kingdom” meant constructing facilities. While it is surely desirable to have attractive, functional ministry buildings, we need to make sure that our primary efforts are focused on building PEOPLE, not facilities. It is discipleship which should be our greatest passion, not building programs, for it is the people of God who will last for eternity, not the buildings. We, not any structures, are His “house.”