Sermon For A New Church

Built Together: What God Is Making Of This Congregation

Something remarkable is happening today. Not just in the sense that a new gathering has formed or that people have found a building and a time to meet. Something is happening that the apostle Peter and the apostle Paul both saw with clarity and described with language that should take our breath away. God is building something. He has been building it since before any of us arrived. And every person in this room is a piece of what He is constructing.

That is the claim of Scripture this morning, and it is worth sitting with before we rush past it. Open your Bible to 1 Peter 2, beginning at verse 4. Peter writes to scattered, pressured, sometimes discouraged believers, and he tells them who they are in Christ. He says this:

"As you come to him, a living stone rejected by people but chosen and honored by God, you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." He continues in verse 9: "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."

Now hold that passage in your mind and turn to Ephesians 2, verse 19. Paul writes to another congregation and says: "So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you are also being built together for God's dwelling in the Spirit."

Two passages. Two apostles. One magnificent truth. Christ is the cornerstone, and He is building His church out of living people.

That is what is happening here today.

The Cornerstone Changes Everything

Before we can understand what this congregation is called to be, we have to understand who is at the center of it. Peter calls Jesus a living stone, rejected by people but chosen and honored by God. That phrase reaches back to Psalm 118, to the stone the builders rejected that became the cornerstone. Jesus quoted that psalm about Himself. The religious leaders of His day looked at Him and said, not this one. He does not fit our plans. He does not serve our purposes. He was crucified, buried, and dismissed.

But God raised Him. And in raising Him, God declared that the stone the builders threw aside is the very stone upon which everything rests.

Paul says the same thing in Ephesians 2. The cornerstone is Christ Jesus Himself. In ancient construction, the cornerstone was not decorative. It was the reference point for the entire building. Every wall, every angle, every measurement was set in relation to that one stone. If the cornerstone was true, the building would be true. If the cornerstone was off, the whole structure would eventually fail.

This congregation will be built on many things over the years. You will have leaders, programs, ministries, music, and community. Those things matter. But none of them is the cornerstone. Jesus is. Every decision, every direction, every priority this church sets must be measured against Him. When He is the reference point, the building holds. When anything else takes that position, the structure begins to lean.

This is the first thing a new congregation must settle: not what style of worship, not what kind of ministry, not what neighborhood strategy, but who is at the center. If Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, is the cornerstone of this church, you are building on solid ground.

Living Stones, Not Spectators

Here is where the text gets personal. Peter does not say that Jesus is the living stone and you are the audience watching Him work. He says you yourselves are living stones. Every person who comes to Christ becomes part of what He is building. You are not a spectator of this congregation. You are a component of it.

That word living is doing heavy work in this passage. Peter is drawing a contrast with the Jerusalem temple, which was made of cut stone, quarried rock, dead material shaped by human hands. That temple was glorious. But it was not alive. What God is building in Christ is a spiritual house made of living people, people who have been made alive by the Spirit of God through faith in Jesus.

Paul says in Ephesians 2 that this building is growing. It is not static. It is not finished. It is being put together, joined, fitted. The language implies an ongoing process, a construction site that has not yet reached completion. Every person who comes to faith in Christ, every person who joins this congregation in genuine commitment, adds to what God is building.

This means something important for how you think about your place here. You are not a consumer attending a service. You are a living stone being placed into a structure. Stones do not choose their own position. The builder places them. But they do bear weight. They do support what is around them. They do contribute to the strength and shape of the whole.

If you are a believer in this room, God has a specific place for you in this congregation. Your gifts, your history, your capacity for service and love and sacrifice, these are not extras. They are load-bearing. The church needs what Christ has placed in you.

And if you are here today still uncertain about your faith, still exploring, still asking whether any of this is true, hear this: the invitation of the gospel is to come to Him. Peter says, as you come to him. The door is open. The cornerstone is not exclusive. Jesus said He would cast out no one who comes to Him. You can come.

A Holy Priesthood, Not A Passive Audience

Peter gives this living community a stunning title. He calls them a holy priesthood. And then in verse 9, he expands it to a royal priesthood. In the Old Testament, the priesthood was a select group. Not everyone could enter the holy places. Not everyone could offer sacrifices. There was a separation between the priests and the people.

But in Christ, that separation has been removed. The veil of the temple was torn in two when Jesus died. Access to God is now open to every believer. Every person who has trusted Christ is a priest in the sense that they have direct access to the Father through the Son. They do not need a human mediator. They come boldly to the throne of grace.

But priesthood in Scripture is not only about access. It is about function. Priests offered sacrifices. They represented God to the people and the people to God. Peter says this new priesthood offers spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. The New Testament elsewhere describes those sacrifices as worship, prayer, generosity, service, and the proclamation of the gospel. These are the offerings of a living congregation.

This means the work of this church is not confined to what happens on Sunday morning. Every act of faithful service, every prayer offered in a home, every conversation in which a believer points someone toward Christ, every act of mercy and justice done in His name, these are priestly offerings. They are worship.

A congregation that understands this will not divide the world into sacred and secular. Everything done in faith and love for the glory of God is sacred. Your work, your family, your neighborhood, your conversations at the table, these are the places where the priesthood of this congregation is exercised all week long.

Called Out Of Darkness To Proclaim His Praises

Peter gives the purpose of this community in verse 9 with unmistakable clarity. You have been called out of darkness into marvelous light so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you.

Notice the order. First, God acts. He calls. He brings people from darkness into light. That is the gospel. You did not find your way out of darkness by your own navigation. You were called out. The grace of God reached into your life and brought you to Christ. That is the foundation of everything.

But the calling has a direction. It is not only a calling into blessing. It is a calling into proclamation. The congregation that has been rescued is the congregation that tells others about the rescue. The church that has been brought into marvelous light is the church that carries that light into the surrounding darkness.

This is the missionary identity of every local congregation. Not just the ones with large budgets or international partnerships, though those are good. Every church, including this one, is a light-bearing community in its specific place. The neighborhood around this building, the city this congregation inhabits, the people who drive past this address every day, they are the mission field. You have been placed here on purpose.

Paul says in Ephesians 2 that this whole structure grows into a holy temple in the Lord, a dwelling place for God in the Spirit. Think about what that means for a community. When a congregation gathers in genuine worship, when it serves its neighbors with Christlike love, when it proclaims the gospel faithfully and lives it honestly, God is present in that place in a way the surrounding world can sense. Not because of a building, but because of the living stones inside it.

That is what this congregation can be. That is what God is building.

A Charge To This Congregation

So here is what I want to leave with you today.

Keep Christ as your cornerstone. Every decision, every priority, every season of difficulty or growth, bring it back to Him. He is the reference point. When you lose your way, return to the gospel. When you disagree, return to Scripture. When you are tempted to build around something other than Jesus, resist it.

Take your place as a living stone. Do not sit on the edges of this congregation as a spectator. You are needed. Your gifts are needed. Your faithfulness is needed. The building does not reach its full strength until every stone is in place.

Exercise your priesthood. Worship God not only on Sunday but in every corner of your life. Offer the spiritual sacrifices of prayer, service, generosity, and witness. Carry the presence of God into the places where you live and work.

And proclaim His praises. You were called out of darkness. Someone needs to hear that there is a way out of theirs. Tell them. Invite them. Bring them to the living stone.

God is building something here. He has been building it longer than any of us have known. And He is not finished.

Come to Him. Take your place. And let Him build.

Sources Consulted

The Holy Bible, Christian Standard Bible. Holman Bible Publishers, 2017. 1 Peter 2:4-10; Ephesians 2:19-22.

Schreiner, Thomas R. 1, 2 Peter, Jude. The New American Commentary, vol. 37. Broadman and Holman, 2003.

Arnold, Clinton E. Ephesians. Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Zondervan, 2010.

Jobes, Karen H. 1 Peter. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Baker Academic, 2005.

Stott, John R. W. The Message of Ephesians. The Bible Speaks Today. InterVarsity Press, 1979.