A Building For His People, A People For His Glory
Notes
Transcript
I want to begin by taking a moment to look around.
Most of us know that this building has seen some work.
Repairs, updates, hours of labor, generosity, and effort have been poured into this place.
From the start, that work matters.
It is good, we should celebrate it.
We should be grateful for every person who gave their time, energy, and resources to make this building what it is so far today.
If we are honest with ourselves, it would be very easy to walk in and see what has been done and think, this is the main thing.
But we have to be careful with that.
For one, there is always something else that can be done.
But more importantly, we have to be careful that while we care for this building, Scripture is very clear that God’s presence does not dwell in this building.
It’s in His people.
And just like this building has needed work, God is working in us as well, and will continue to do so.
As we dedicate this building today, I want us to answer the question, what is God actually building here.
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Before we get into these verses, it helps to know who Peter is writing to.
At the beginning of the letter, Peter describes these Christians as “elect exiles.”
They are believers scattered throughout different regions of the Roman world.
Many of them are living as outsiders because they belong to Christ.
Peter has spent the first chapter reminding them that although their place in this world may feel uncertain, their place with God is not.
They have been born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
They have an inheritance that cannot perish.
They have been redeemed, not with silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.
At the end of chapter one, Peter begins talking about the new life they now share together.
He says in verse 22 that they should “love one another earnestly from a pure heart.”
Why?
Because they have been born again through the living and abiding Word of God.
Chapter two begins with Peter telling them to put away the things that tear relationships apart—malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander—and instead to long for the pure spiritual milk of God's Word.
This brings us to the verses I want look at today.
“As you come to him…”
Peter is talking about people who have come to Christ and continue coming to Christ.
Peter writes now to give these people, and us, a picture of what God is doing with believers.
He uses building imagery as a picture we know, to show what God is really building.
The church as people and the living stone upon which it is built.
Christ Is the Foundation of His Church — 1 Peter 2:4–6
Christ Is the Foundation of His Church — 1 Peter 2:4–6
Peter begins this section by bringing our attention immediately to Jesus.
4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Think about this picture for a moment.
Buildings are inanimate objects.
But this phrase has to do with life.
He calls Jesus a “living stone.”
Those two words seem like they shouldn't go together.
A stone is solid and permanent, but it isn't alive.
But Peter uses both because Jesus is the stone upon which everything else rests.
Men rejected Him and put Him to death, but death did not hold Him.
And while men rejected Him, Peter says that in God's sight He was “chosen and precious.”
He then goes on to make the connection of believers as living stones as well.
Think about that picture and connection for a moment.
Not bricks, living stones.
These living stones — that's us — are being built together into something.
A spiritual house.
A dwelling place for God.
The passage combines three foundational Old Testament images: the house of God as the temple, the house of God as God’s family, and the house of God as the priesthood.
In the Old Testament, the temple functioned as the place where God would meet humanity—the house of God itself.
Believers are being built together into a dwelling of God the Holy Spirit,
and because God is Spirit, His dwelling is appropriately spiritual, with the Holy Spirit living in believers
The temple in Jerusalem was the place where heaven and earth overlapped.
And now that is in us!
If you have Jesus as your Lord and savior, you are the temple!
The church — the people of God — are where his presence now lives.
So when we talk about dedicating a building today, we need to understand the context.
This building is not the temple. We are the temple. This building is a tool.
It's a gathering place.
It's a gift, and a good one.
But the real construction project that God cares about is happening in human hearts.
That construction project has a foundation which is why Peter quotes in verse 6, Peter quotes Isaiah 28:
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious…”
The cornerstone mattered because the rest of the building took its direction from it.
If that first stone was wrong, the problem would not stay in one corner.
As the walls went up, the error would become more obvious.
Everything had to be aligned with that stone.
Peter says that stone is Jesus.
That is especially important for us to remember on a day like today.
We are sitting in a building that people have invested a great deal into.
People built it.
Generations have maintained it.
Over the last few years, many of you have given money, time, and physical labor to take care of it.
That is something to be thankful for.
But none of those things is what holds this church together.
Sixty years ago, there were people who helped establish this congregation.
They are no longer here.
Pastors have come and gone.
Families have moved.
Ministries have changed.
The building itself has changed.
But the cornerstone remains the same.
Jesus Christ
That's a picture of what God is doing here at Drummond Community Church.
The walls and the roof — they serve us.
But the living stones — that's where the real work is happening.
If we as a church are going to remain faithful for another generation, everything we do must continue to take its direction from our cornerstone.
Christ Is Building a People — 1 Peter 2:6–8
Christ Is Building a People — 1 Peter 2:6–8
We looked at verse 6 a little already but look again at 6-8.
6 For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” 7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.” They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
Peter is referring here to Isaiah 28 and Psalm 118.
Peter says this cornerstone produces two different responses.
For those who believe, he is honor.
He is the one in whom we find our place.
But for those who do not believe, he becomes a stone of stumbling.
A rock of offense.
He says they stumble because they disobey the word.
The difference is not in the Stone. Christ does not change.
The difference is how people respond to Him.
Their unbelief is real disobedience, and even their rejection of Christ does not place them outside God’s sovereign purpose.
So as we look around this building today, it is worth remembering that God’s greater construction project is not made of lumber, concrete, or steel.
It is made of people brought to Christ and built together around Him.
The building we are dedicating today only matters because of the cornerstone it rests on.
This church only exists because of Christ.
The foundation is Jesus.
And every living stone in this place — every one of us — is built in relation to him.
We are aligned to him.
We are measured by him.
We find our place because of him.
And whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.
We Belong to God for a Purpose — 1 Peter 2:9–10
We Belong to God for a Purpose — 1 Peter 2:9–10
After describing those who stumble over Christ, Peter turns back to believers Peter turns back to believers in verse 9:
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Peter is using language that reaches back into the Old Testament, especially to Exodus 19.
These were words used to describe Israel as God’s covenant people.
Now Peter applies them to those who belong to Christ.
He is reminding these scattered believers that their identity is not determined by how the world sees them.
The world may treat you like outsiders, but God says, you are Mine.
If you are following Jesus, you are not defined first by where you live, what people think of you, or even the circumstances you are walking through.
You belong to God.
Peter goes on to show their purpose:
“that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
God does not gather a people simply so they can enjoy belonging to Him and then keep it to themselves.
He calls us out of darkness so that our lives and our words point back to the One who brought us into the light.
You can picture someone turning on a light first thing in the morning.
At first, the light almost hurts your eyes.
Then things begin to come into focus.
You can finally see what was there all along.
Peter says that is part of the church’s calling.
We are meant to make much of the One who rescued us.
We were not people wandering toward God and eventually finding Him.
He called us.
And verse 10 makes that even clearer:
“Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
That language reaches back to Hosea.
Peter reminds us that our identity as God’s people is not something we achieved.
It is mercy.
That is especially important on a day like today.
We can look back and say, wow this church has existed for sixty years, look at this building, look at the work that has been done.
We can be thankful for that.
When we walk through these doors on a Sunday, the building helps us.
It shelters us. It gives us a place to gather.
But the thing that actually proclaims the excellencies of God is not the paint on the walls.
It's the people in the seats.
It's the lives that have been changed by the gospel.
It's the marriages that have been restored, the prodigals who have come home, addicts who have found freedom, the lonely who have found family.
The greatest thing God has given us is not a building.
It is mercy.
And if He has made us His people, then this building has a purpose too.
Communion
Communion
I think there's no better way to respond to that invitation than by coming to the Table of the Lord.
Because this Table reminds us of the foundation of everything.
Before there was a building, before there was a church, before there were living stones being built together — there was a cross.
And on that cross, Jesus Christ gave his body and shed his blood so that we could be forgiven, so that we could be brought near, so that we could become the dwelling place of God.
This is his Table.
And as we come, we remember that we are not building something for ourselves.
We are receiving what he has already built for us.
Not because you are worthy, but because Jesus is worthy.
As we prepare to share in the Lord’s supper together, let us each take a moment to reflect and prepare our hearts.
26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”
27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
Dedication
Dedication
There is a temptation that comes with a day like today.
The temptation is that we would admire what we've done more than we admire what God is doing.
It's the same temptation Israel faced with the temple.
The temple was magnificent. It was beautiful.
And over time, the people began to trust in the building more than they trusted in the God the building was meant to point to.
And Jesus, you remember, he warned them.
He said the days would come when not one stone would be left on another.
The building was never the point.
The God who dwelt among his people — that was the point.
And so today, as we dedicate this building, I want us to dedicate it rightly.
Not as a monument to what we've accomplished.
But as a place set apart for what God is doing and will continue to do.
This building exists so that the gospel can be preached here.
So that the Lord's Table can be shared here.
So that the broken can find healing here.
So that the lost can be found here.
So that children can learn the name of Jesus here.
So that the nations can hear the good news from here.
The building serves the mission.
The mission does not serve the building.
There are still things that will need to be done to take care of this facility.
If the Lord doesn't return first, we will repaint these walls.
We will replace things we just replaced.
We will fix things we thought we had finally fixed.
That's what happens to buildings.
But that's not why we're here today.
We're here because for sixty years God has been gathering people to Himself in this place.
And today we aren't simply dedicating a building.
We are asking God to take everything He has entrusted to us—
this building, our resources, our ministries, our families, our time, and ultimately ourselves—and use it for the glory of Christ.
Because this building isn't the church.
We are.
And we are His.
As 1 Pet 2 10 says -
“Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
So may this building be useful for many years to come.
But more importantly, may the people who gather inside it remain faithful to Jesus Christ.
And may generation after generation be able to say:
God has been faithful to us.
Let us be faithful with what He has entrusted to us.
We are going to read together as a prayer of dedication to the Lord.
Lord, We dedicate this place to the faithful preaching of God's Word.
We dedicate it to prayer and worship.
We dedicate it to making disciples of our children and grandchildren.
We dedicate it to fellowship and hospitality.
We dedicate it to caring for the hurting and needy.
We dedicate it to proclaiming Christ to our community.
And above all, we dedicate ourselves again to Jesus Christ, the Head of His Church.
Building Dedication Prayer
Father, we thank you for this place. We thank you for every hand that served, every gift that was given, every hour that was poured into making this building a place where your people can gather.
But Lord, we dedicate this building not as an end in itself. We dedicate it as a means of grace. We set it apart for the preaching of your Word, for the celebration of your sacraments, for the gathering of your people, and for the sending of your church into this community and to the ends of the earth.
More than the building, Lord, dedicate us. Build us together as living stones. Make us a holy priesthood. Let this place be known not for its walls, but for the lives that were changed within them.
We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.in
Picture inside or outside depending upon the weather.
