1 Peter - 2022

And let's turn to the word of God now. We're preaching through 1 Peter. We're finding it to be a fantastic refreshing, challenging book even though it was written nearly 2000 years ago to a group of Christians around the world. And Peter, obviously, a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ is writing this to encourage us to live and understand the world that we're in and it's certainly doing that.

And Tom is gonna carry on with our sermon series, but we're gonna start reading from 1 Peter and verse 22, and then right the way through to chapter 2 verse 10. 1 Peter verse 22. Now that you have purified yourself by obeying the truth, so that you have sincere love for each other, love 1 another deeply from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable through the living and enduring word of God. For all people are like grass, all their glory is like the flowers of the field.

Grass with us and the flowers fall, but the word of the lord endures forever. And this is the word that was preached to you. Therefore, rid yourself of malice, or deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander of every kind like newborn babes, crave, pure spiritual milk. So the buyer you may grow up in your salvation. Now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

As you come to him, the living stone rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him, you also like living stones are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood. Offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in scripture it says, see, Aylaia Stone in Zion chose an precious cornerstone and the 1 who trusts in him will never be put to shame. Now you who believe this stone is precious. Now to you who believe this stone is precious, But to those who do not believe, the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and the stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.

They stumble because they disobey the message, which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, holy nation, got a special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Praise God for that reading, Tom. Wonderful.

Thanks for reading that. Great chapter, great verses. For us to think about this morning. So do keep them open in front of you if you've got your bibles with you. My name is Tom.

I'm on the staff team here. And great to see great to see you this morning, and welcome if you're here for the first time. And if you're joining us online, welcome to you as well. As Pete said, we've been working our way through this amazing letter of 1 Peter. We're here now in chapter 2 and Over the past couple of weeks, I mean Peter has just been really raising the game on the church.

He's been showing us how wonderful it is to belong to the church. He's been helping us to understand what the church really is and what it's all about, what it means to belong to the church. And he's he's he's right on that theme again this morning. So here we are. We're in 1 peter 2.

We're gonna be focusing on versus 4 to 10 second half of that that reading. But let's let's pray together. Let's ask for God's help as we look at these wonderful words. The father for this Church that we belong to here, we give you great praise. We thank you for 1 another.

And we thank you for the work that you've done in our lives. We thank you for the Lord Jesus. We love Him. Thank you that he saved us. Thank you that he's given us new birth.

Thank you that we belong to this community of imperishable people. Who are built upon an imperishable king, a kingdom that is gonna last forever. And we just thank you for these precious moments this morning. Really the most precious and important moments of our entire week that we can gather to be with your people to think upon these things of your word and to sing your praise please, holy spirit give us wisdom and insight as we look into these words. Maybe we know them well or perhaps we're coming to them for the first time but we want you to speak to us.

Speak to us in such a way that we are genuinely moved towards you in repentance and faith so that we could honestly say leaving here this morning that we love Jesus more than we did when we came. And we love his people more than we did when we came. And we ask these things in his name. Our men. Ahmen.

Well, if you are if you're British, you you may not, you probably will not like me for what I'm about to say. But I just want you to just turn around and look at your neighbors. Look at look at the people who are around you. That's not just that's not just a casual suggestion from the front. That's a real that's a real thing I want you to do.

To look look around, look at the people around you. Now, you don't have to speak out loud Okay? But what do you what do you see as you look around? Okay? There might be people that you you know very well.

People that you've known for years, there might be some that are unfamiliar to you and that you don't know. But do you realize? I want us to see from this passage. Do you realize that as you look at your brothers and sisters this morning, you are at you are in the presence of the living God. You're in God's presence.

As you look at your brothers and sisters. That's what Peter is telling us here. That brother or sister that you've just locked eyes with, I know it was probably brief. That you've just looked at is is a living stone in the temple of the living God And as you gather with them this morning, you are in his presence. You might remember that famous scene in the old testament where Moses called before the Lord, the bush that was burning, and he has to take off his sandals.

Why? Because the Lord says he's on holy ground. He's in the presence of God. And that's that's where we are this morning. We're in the presence of God.

This is holy ground because we're with 1 another gathering in the Lord's name. And this is what we've been seeing in this letter that Peter has has really no time for small views of the church. We saw that last week, didn't we? That he's he's called us the imperishable, the twice borners. Those who are gonna live forever, those whose glory won't fade because we're built on 1 whose glory never fades.

He's really been raising the temperature in how we think about our church. And that's exactly what he's doing again this morning. Who are the people around you? They are the temple of the living God. And so we can say confidently that God is with us this morning, that this is a sacred place, not because of the building in which we're in, or not because of any of us here up at the front or any app sphere that's created, we are in the presence of God.

God is with us this morning because God is in us. God is with us because God is in us. And it struck me as I was preparing this week. There really are only 3 categories of people that are described here. And we all fit into 1 of those categories.

Either your Jesus, that's 1 option. Either your Jesus, or you're being built around him into a holy house, or you're stumbling over him. You're either Jesus, I think we can rule that out reasonably confidently. Or we're being built around him, or we're stumbling over him. Those are the only categories of people that are mentioned in this passage.

And so we'll take each 1 by turn, and we'll take each 1 as our as our 3 headings for this morning. So firstly, let's look at Jesus. The lord of the church, the 1 who we built around, the 1 who gives us life. Let's start with him. And verse 4, you can see at the beginning of our reading, Peter says, as you come to him, which in words means keep coming.

As you keep coming to him, the living stone. Rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him. So he's called here the living stone. Now, someone who's done a bit of a geology in the past. I've looked at quite a few stones in my time, And 1 thing that they're not very often is living.

You know, and so it's a strange paradox here, isn't it? He is called a living stone, a living stone. And the point Peter is making it, he's this this stone is not like those other stones. This 1 really is alive. And we've seen this language of life about Jesus already in this in this letter.

So if you go right back, just turn probably just a page in your bibles to chapter 1 verse 3, which we looked at some some time ago, Peter says, praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In his great mercy, he's given us new birth into a living hope, living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from from the dead. And so he's telling us here that this living stone is living because it's referring to Jesus Christ, who is alive. He is the 1 who died upon the cross, who said it is finished, but who wasn't defeated, who rose 3 days later. He's the living savior.

He is the living stone and when we trust in him, we come into a living hope. And so Peter is telling us here that there would be no spiritual life. There would be no temple of the living God, no church, unless Jesus Christ was alive. Without the resurrection, we wouldn't have the church. Because I live you also will live.

That's what Jesus said in John 14 because I live, you also will live. So this is the living stone. But there's more about him. We're also told in verse 4 that he's the chosen 1. He's the chosen 1.

And again, we've seen that language before. So if you look back to chapter 1 verse 20, we find that the living 1 is again the chosen 1. Or verse 19 rather chapter 1. But with the precious blood of Christ, you were redeemed. A lamb without blemish or defect, he was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.

So when did Jesus Christ get his mission? When was he given his mission? Was it at his baptism? Was it in the manger? It was in eternity.

That's what we're told here, that the living son of God in eternity was appointed to be the savior of the world. He was chosen sometimes called the kind of covenant of redemption or the promise of redemption. There was an agreement within the Godhead, that Christ would be the Savior, that he was chosen set apart for that role, came into the world at the right time. And achieved salvation for the for the glory of his name and for his people. He's the chosen 1.

Jesus Christ is the first missionary. What we're being told here. He's the 1, the first 1 sent and the first 1 who willingly came to create a new people around himself. He's the living 1. He is the chosen 1.

What else do we see? We also see he's the precious 1. Verse 4, rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him. Again, chapter 1 verse 19. We've seen that precious word already.

Just read it. But you will redeem with the precious, the precious blood of Christ. This is the chosen Living precious son of God. We might remember those words of the father when he was baptized. This is my son whom I love.

My loved 1. My precious 1. That's who he is. Chosen, living, precious stone. What else?

Verse 6 and 7. We should know this pretty well if we come here regularly. For in Scripture, it says See, I lay a stone in Zion. This is unpacking the living stone stuff. A chosen and precious Cornerstone.

And the 1 who trusts in him will never be put to shame. Now to you who believe this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. Now in the days before steel and glass and GPS coordinates for buildings. I guess that's how it works.

What you would have is a stone Mason who would be searching through a load of rocks that had come out of a quarry and he would search for this stone, this cornerstone by which he could build the build the building. And because I know very little about this, actually, text Abri this week, who's an architect in the church. And I just asked for some information about cornerstones, and he hasn't worked with them recently. You might have imagined. But he did tell me some cool stuff about the cornerstone.

He said it really need it needed to be 3 things, this cornerstone. Needed to be as near to perfectly straight, perfectly square as it could be, and virtually immovable. That's what it had to be. So as near to perfectly straight perfectly square and virtually immovable. That's what the cornerstone had to be.

In other words, it had to be virtually immovable, it had to be strong. Wasn't gonna decay. Wasn't gonna crumble. It was gonna be there for however long the building was gonna be there. Had to be an immovable stone, but it also had to be perfectly straight and square because it would set the direction for the rest of the building.

It would set the course. You would build everything according to it. So when you built the east wall and the north wall and the south, you It needed to be straight so you could plan the whole building around this cornerstone. So what does the cornerstone give? It gives a double double thing, it gives strength and direction.

That's what it's gotta be built on something with strength and direction, purpose, truthfulness. And so when Peter calls Jesus, the living stone. That's what he he means. And clearly, here he's got Isaiah and the Psalms in mind from which he quotes But maybe he was also thinking about his own experience. Perhaps he was thinking about that time when Jesus was asking the disciples who he is and Peter said, you are the Christ, the son of the living God, and Jesus replied how to him.

On this rock, On this rock, I'm gonna build my church. And that rock he meant was that confession about who he was. Christ, the son of the living God. In other words, if you build on me, Peter, you're on an immovable foundation and you will have a direction and a purpose to your life, which will never go wrong, which will keep straight, and which will last forever. Build on that rock.

That's who I am, the cornerstone, the living stone. And so Peter is saying, look, where do we get our direction as a church family? What sets our course. Where do we get our strength? From where do we draw the life that sustains us?

We draw it from Christ from Jesus, who is the living stone. That's who we're built around. So you see what he's doing here. He's He's he is about to raise up the theology of the church, but he's gonna raise up the church's lord, first of all. He wants to see the lord of the church.

And then those of us who built around him. So that's first first thing, the living stone. Secondly, let's look then at those who built around him. Livingstone, those were built around him. Now just the other week, we had a if you weren't here, we had a dedication service where we had some babies that have been born to us in the church family, and we were we were giving thanks to them, praying for them together.

And 1 of the babies that we gave dedicated gave thanks for was Malachi, And you might remember Malachi has got 7 names. You know, it's quite impressive 7 names, and they all mean something. So Malachi means messenger. Sebastian, is 1 of his names, means the venerable 1. That's great, isn't it?

He's also had a name Ola Leikan. Which means I wish I'd known this before I had my son, means wealth to your father's house. I feel like I've missed a trick there. You know, I could have really, you know, if that comes true, we're gonna be kicking ourselves the rest of us. Wealth to our wealth to your father and loads of other names.

And know, as you look through this passage, it's worth thinking about this passage, a bit like a naming ceremony for Christians. I counted, I think, there are 16 ways in which Christians are described here. 10 names they're given and 16 ways in which they're described in all of 6 verses. They are who are they? They are those who come to Christ.

They are living stones. They are a spiritual house. They are a holy priesthood. Later, they are a royal priesthood. They are those who trust in him, they are those who will never be put to shame, they are a chosen people, a holy nation, they are God's special possession, They are those who called out of dark to declare his praises.

They are a people who were once not a people. They hadn't received mercy. Now, they have received mercy. So 16, that's quite a naming ceremony. Quite a dedication of a of a people, isn't it?

And you remember that in this culture, and we've said we've said this in our in our series. Remember in this culture, these Christians were scattered around what is now Northern Turkey, and they would have belonged in no in crowds. They would have had no names really. They would have been on the sidelines of society. Their, you know, they would have been pushed to the margins, not not part of anything, really.

But God is wanting to rub in here through the Holy Spirit, just how much they really do belong. All the names he he gives them. And by the way, this this is language that no gentile would apply to themselves normally. Think about what he's saying. This is rich with old testament language about the people of God.

No gentile in their right mind. Would naturally apply that to themselves. But here the Holy Spirit is saying that you those are your names. The fullness has come upon. That's who you are.

It uses the language of deuteronomy 14. You are a people holy to the Lord. Due toonomy 14 2, this is out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession. Now, that was for old testament Israel, but now he says you belong to that chosen people. You're the special ones.

You're the special possession chosen out of the world. And then there's this temple language, which I I reckon could be the most radical of all. For 2 reasons, firstly, because they're gentiles. And secondly, because when this letter was written, the temple was actually still standing. You you you you could have gone to Jerusalem, gone to the temple, you could have seen the magnificent stones, this great structure built by human hands.

You would know as you looked at it that historically that was where people met with God. The temple at this stage is probably still standing. And he says to them, look, Don't forget it. No need to go there. You don't need to go that you are that temple.

You wanna see magnificent stone. Look at yourselves. You are the spiritual house. This is the place, the church, through the church's Lord, that you access God now. Don't need to go there.

On some pilgrimage. And anyway, it's coming down in a few years. So don't waste your time. You are that people. You're the temple of the living God.

This is where we meet with him now. And then, I mean, you know, I said Temple was the biggest, but I now You know, maybe priesthood is the biggest. Goes them a royal priesthood. Have a look at this verse. From exodus.

Exadus oh, there's Judith on me. Sorry. I should've should've put that up. Here's exodus 19 verse 4 to 6. Lot actually, lots of the passage uses language from here.

You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on Eagle's wings and brought you to myself. There's a salvation image there. It's lovely, redemption image. Now, if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all the nations, you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests.

And a holy nation. And it's interesting this, because in Exodus 19, the Lord says to his people, that you are you are going to be a nation of priests. You're all going to be like royal priests in the world. But after the golden calf incident, if you remember that, great scene of betrayal and idolatry, the priesthood was restricted just to the Levi. So they were the ones who sort of remained loyal and faithful and the priests had stayed with them, but now we're told that it's gone nationwide again.

That no longer does it just belong to 1 group of people through Christ. We all have the privileges of the priests. We can all access God and come into his presence through Jesus, that we can all now bring our sacrifices of praise and thanks to him. All those jobs of the priests, where we are the priests of God through Jesus Christ in the world. So it's amazing, isn't it?

This this this rich, historical language that is being just rubbed all over them. You belong. That's all your language now. Your god's your god's people. And you notice the other thing about it is it's all corporate isn't it?

It's all corporate language. You are brothers and sisters. You are these things together. Chosen people living stones, nation, priest, priesthood. Uses that language from Jose at the end.

Not my people, now called my people. Not receive mercy, now receive mercy. This is who you are. I just love that bit at the end of revelation. You know, the great culmination of John's vision, and we're told that this holy city is coming down.

And then in the next verse, you find out that the city is in fact a bride And then you find out that the bride is in fact a dwelling, and then you see that the dwelling is in fact a people. This is what it is, the temple, the dwelling of God is the people, is the church. It's us. It's us. Now we're gonna we'll we'll we'll swing back later and think about some implication to that, apply it a little bit.

But let's see then then thirdly. And lastly, under these main headings, those who stumble over him, shorter shorter points. So we've had the living stone, those built around him, those who stumble over him. And as I said at the beginning, those those really are the 3 categories of people. Here today, And when this was written, you're either Jesus, you've either been built around him, or you're either stumbling over him.

That's it. We all belong in 1 of those 3. And verse 7 to 8 focuses, well, helps us to understand more about those who stumble. Now to you who believe this stone is precious in the years, isn't he? Don't you think?

Is precious. To those of us who believe he's a precious stone. But to those who do not believe, well, the stone, the builders reject it has become the cornerstone. And a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. They stumble because they disobey the message.

Which is also what they were destined for. Now, who's he talking about here? Well, I think originally, He's talking about the historic people of God, and he's now saying that they were like bad Stonemasons. They were like bad Stone Mason. They had in their promises at Christ, the Savior who was going to come and redeem them.

And those who had faith looked at that and they trust in the coming of Christ and they were built around him even then, really. But then there were the Stone Mason who didn't trust in that promise of Christ. They tripped over him. They threw him out of the building site, and they tried then to build themselves upon something else. They stumbled over Christ and the promise of Christ, and those bad masons, stone masons throughout Jesus.

It wouldn't build themselves around the promise of the of the Messiah. He says that, which is also what they were destined for. And I think what he's saying here, because he talks a lot about unbelief. And he's saying to them, look, if you persist in that, if you carry on disbelieving in the Lord's living stone, then you will be destroyed. That will be your destiny if you persist in unbelief and stumbling.

That's where you're going to be. And the humbling thing about this, I think, is that although it refers perhaps originally to those original builders. In verse 4, it's sort of broadened out, isn't it? Says as you come to him, the living stone rejected by humans, but chosen by God and precious to him. And I wonder if the point there is, look, that that applies to all apply to all of us at 1 stage.

That we all stumbled over him. We all didn't believe in him. We all wanted something else to be the foundation of our life, something else to set the direction of our lives. And we stumbled over Christ. And perhaps, you know, you're here and you you would still maybe put yourself in that.

You still are in that category. You see, the thing about this is we've all we've all got a cornerstone, and we're all building something. In all of our lives, there is something that we're building on some foundation we think is sure. There is something that we think is setting the direction of our lives. Something we're building towards.

We've got this building, which is our lives, and we're setting it around trying to build around something. And the question here is, what is it? And where does it lead? You know, we've been built around Jesus and destined for honor. Or are we throwing him out, building on something else and being destined for destruction?

What are we what are we building on? What do we think is strong? What do we think is worth setting our lives by? It's interesting I was thinking this week and maybe maybe for some of the the rooted guys, particularly some of the, you know, some of the younger ones of whom I still consider myself to be apart, actually. You know, there there are there are just so many views today and so many beliefs that you know, I put forward, put your way, and they sound so convincing and so persuasive and so strong.

And to not build your life upon and to to set your beliefs by it is seen now to be such a foolish thing to do. But a time is coming, you know, and it won't be long. When you're 80 or 85 or 90, you know, your your grandkids you know, are gonna come to you and they're gonna say, nan or or have whatever you wanna be called. You know, nan or granddad, did people really believe that when you were Did you believe that all those years ago? Did you?

Really? And you'll say, yeah, but that's what people that's what everyone believed at the time. You you know, Really? Now, you can't believe you used to believe that. And you know why they'll say that because there are no real intellectual foundations in this world.

You know, there is nothing so steady, nothing so sure. The things which appear to be so worth building on now in not long will be considered to be naf foundations and no 1 will be building on them. Isn't it worth building your life on something that you know when you're 85 or 90, it's still gonna be true and still gonna be worth following. That's what he's saying. What is our foundation?

It's been brought home to us week, isn't it? As we've been, you know, as we've been praying about the situation in Ukraine. You know, it reminds us probably of many things, but not least that, you know, things are a lot more fragile than we think they are. I think most of us, I certainly, you know, live under this idea that the general peace and prosperity that I enjoy is untouchable. That it's never gonna be taken from me.

That I'm gonna endure this. I'm gonna sort of be able to enjoy this life of peace and comfort, and it's never gonna be taken. And and just what we've seen this week has reminded us in some well, not in small way, in a big way, that there are there are no these things can be shaken so quickly. It's interesting hearing some of the commentators, isn't it? When they say, We can't believe in 20 22 this is happening.

War has come to Europe again. What, you know, in 20 22 as if just saying that date over and over again will somehow make us think it couldn't happen. You know, in 20 22. 20 22, this is happening. And and we think it's stable.

Somehow, because we're further on than we were 60 years ago. But, you know, the human heart hasn't changed. You know, we still have an appetite for destroying 1 another. The foundations of peace that we think are strong can be tottered and rocked. So very, very quickly.

It's worth, isn't it? Building on something strong, something you know that's going to last, something true, So that would be, you know, a word to all of us, really. But perhaps particularly to those who wouldn't call themselves Christians here. What what are you building on? Where is it gonna lead?

Where is it gonna take you? Believe in Christ. Believe in Christ have all the honor and the beauty of being built into his purposes rather than the inevitable shame that will come. From disbelieving and seeing your foundations collapse. Living Stone, those built around him, those stumble over him.

Now let's think through just 2 applications for us here as a church family. There's 1 here about how we relate to each other. And there's 1 about how we relate to God as a church. Firstly, about how we relate to each other. 1 of the things that I used to I don't I haven't done very recently.

But 1 of the things I used to encourage students to do, particularly those who were in shared accommodation living with 5, 6, 12, other, you know, other students was to really work hard if they could at maintaining relationships. With the people they lived with. And the reason the reason I did that is because I noticed that in shared accommodation, If relationships break down, people become defined by their bad habits. So you're no longer Jenny you're the girl who never washes her dishes. Yeah?

Or you're no longer Pete Reddington. You're the bloke who never cleans his bathroom. Yeah. That's actually true, isn't he? I went to Pete's house when he was a student and I can but, you know, that's an honest testimony about life in peace bathroom.

I I hope that's been knocked down, has it now, brother? Or Still there. Still there. It's I've I've sort of praise God. That in a way, you know.

And yeah. But that's what happens though. If relationship breaks down, people become you're you're just you're the person who doesn't take the bins out. You're the person who never does And then what happens is, it leads to tension, it leads to hostility, people move out, and everything breaks down. And we've we we've got to we mustn't let that happen in the church.

We've got to resist that, you know, no longer a brother or sister in the Lord. Just that annoying couple with the whiny kid. Yeah? Just defined by a a bad habit or something about them. You know, no longer that sister in the lord who I love.

There's that annoying 1 who's always late. There's that youth member, my youth group, you know, no longer see them as brothers and sisters trying to live for Christ together, but there's that really annoying 1 who holds the view that I hate. No longer see that that that person as a brother, but 1 whose approval I must have. For, I'm gonna die. You see, it becomes we can become sort of defined by these habits.

When relationships begin to break down and we've gotta resist that, there is nothing spiritual about treating each other that way. I mean, the world the world can do that. Very easy. Nothing spiritual about that. But we are the holy house of God.

And of course, it is true. That when stones come together, there can be a grating noise. Yeah. And they they they grate as they come together. They can be that.

But Peter is saying you are held together by a by a cement of of love and the cement of the gospel. You are about the same thing. You're living stones. You're full of the Holy Spirit. See each other that way.

See your brothers and sisters that way. I mean, that's That's what he says. Temperature of the living God, chosen people, gathering to declare his praise. I think this is why. It's probably a big reason why we have this as our logo, this passage.

And you may if you're not you may wonder what these things are all about, these arrows, but I've got the I've got the the it's not a gift, but an animation or maybe it is a gift of of our logo. And we we really designed it around this around this passage. Can we flick onto that, I, J, if possible? This thing seems to have given up. There we go.

Look at that. Isn't that fantastic? That that is who we are in a gift Yeah? There's the cornerstone. There is Christ.

The 1 we're being built around. There are living stones who are coming in and being built together around Jesus. And I think I remember Paul saying when he talked us through this that he's deliberately left some out. Because we then are built together and then go out and declare his praises to the world. And that's something like verse 9, isn't it?

You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare. The praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. This is the place where the praises of the living God are declared publicly, and then we go from the building and we declare those praises out to the world. So this is who who we are. And so I hope you feel really excited about belonging to this church.

There is nothing more significant and nothing more profound that you will do today than this and what you're doing now. Being together with the living stones, your brothers and sisters, how excited are you about church? How excited are you about the people you see around you? Well, I think if we get this passage, then we're gonna be pretty excited. So there's something about how we relate to each other.

And last briefly, something about how we relate to God. If all of this is true, We have to reject the idea that any priest or any pastor or any special person can bring us into the presence of God. We have to reject the idea that a particular style of music will bring the presence of God down to us that traveling to a sacred site will bring us close to the presence of God. We have to reject all of that out of hand. Now, I know there are different traditions, I know there are different styles, but if what is communicated in the tradition is this is how you access the presence of God, It's not just different.

It's flat wrong. We come into the presence of God through the Lord Jesus Christ and in the presence of our brothers and That's how we get into God's presence through Jesus and through his church. And if we don't say it as starkly as that, we just won't get the point We are the church. This is the people built around Jesus, brothers, and sisters, together. That's how we relate to God.

So how do we relate to how do we relate to each other? In all these ways, how do we relate to God, through Jesus, through 1 another, isn't it great to have the church raised up, lifted up before us, and to see her sparkling lord around who we're all built? Let's pray let's pray Can I just suggest you do 3 things quietly before I lead us in a prayer? Firstly, a prayer in your own hearts to give thanks for the living stone. Something about Jesus that you love, then you could just pray for a brother or sister, maybe 1 you looked at, a living stone who's being built with you, say a little prayer for them.

Thank God for them. And maybe somebody in your life who you know is currently stumbling over him and pray that the lord would bring them into the building. So 3 prayers, 1 for each of those points. I'll leave you to do that. And then Pete can come and come and close for us.