About this note
This session was preached in English with live consecutive interpretation into Spanish. This note keeps only the original English. The Spanish interpreter’s version (with a machine-translated stretch marked, where the interpreter dropped out of the recording) is in Moldea e interactúa con la Iglesia.
Introduction
Other speakers have communicated this, but I just want to add my voice to the chorus of those thanking you for the ways you serve in your local church. You might have a public role, like preaching or leading the music, or you might be involved in something behind the scenes, like administration or serving the children. God sees what you do. And in whatever ways you serve, you’re demonstrating the heart of Christ for his precious bride, and you’re bringing him glory. So thank you.
There have been numerous moments in this conference where I’ve questioned whether I really need to give a message, because speaker after speaker kept making the points I was going to make. But you know, Paul didn’t mind repeating stuff; Peter didn’t mind repeating stuff; and I don’t mind repeating stuff, because I can guarantee you, you’ve forgotten most of what you’ve heard already.
In this conference, we’ve been seeking to answer the question: in God’s eyes, what are the most important elements when we gather as his people in his presence? There could be many answers to that question, but we’ve sought to reduce it to perspectives that are absolutely essential for a meeting that serves God’s purposes and brings him glory.
Carlos began by reminding us, from Psalm 84, that our gatherings aren’t simply a formality — they’re a matter of the heart. We can’t expect to worship God publicly if we’ve been careless with our communion with God privately. Miguel helped us see, from John 4, that God doesn’t need our worship, because he is the one from whom, through whom, and to him are all things. Sugel explored with us the ultimate authority and sufficiency of God’s word — and I love this: the house where God dwells must be the house of God; the house where God dwells must be filled with the voice of God. Joselo helped us see how the gospel informs and shapes and nourishes our gatherings — our worship is grounded on the gospel because it rests on the complete work of Christ, and it’s driven by the gospel because that work moves us to respond. Aníbal reminded us from Psalm 67 that the church gathers not to become ingrown and focused on each other, but to be sent — we who have been blessed so richly want to see that blessing extended to others. Jeff showed us how knowing the Spirit empowers our worship and leads us to a response of humble dependence, and he described the act of singing in a way I’ve never heard, and will probably never hear again. It’s a miracle.
My aim in this message is to speak on the nature of who it is that’s actually gathering, and how that should affect what we do. We have been looking inward, upward, and outward, and now we’re going to look around. How is it that what we do on a Sunday morning is different from what happens at a good party, or a football game, or some other event? What makes it so significant? Let’s say it’s the people who are gathered. And we’re going to learn about that by looking at two verses in Peter’s first letter, chapter 2, verses 4 and 5. I’m going to read them:
1 Peter 2:4-5 (as read in this session)
And as you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, for a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Let’s pray. Father, this is your word. We have been singing your word, praying your word, hearing your word, and we ask that you would plant your word deep in our hearts, that you would continue to do that, for our good, for the glory of Jesus, and for your eternal honor. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
These two verses are going to help us answer three questions about how we view our gatherings through the lens of the church. Number one: who is gathering? Number two: what are we doing? Number three: by what means are we doing it? Now, if you’ve been paying attention, you realize that the speakers who have already spoken have addressed these issues — but we’re going to focus in on them, because we forget.
So let’s get our context. In the first chapter, Peter recalls the glorious aspects of our conversion — how we have been ransomed from our futile ways, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with precious blood, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ. We have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.
In chapter 2, Peter begins to spell out for his readers their identity. You’ve been redeemed — how should we live? And in verses 1 through 3, he talks about how they should put away different things: malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander. He tells them to desire God’s word eagerly and desperately, like babies desire their mother’s milk. And then he begins to speak of their corporate identity, which leads to the first question.
I. Who is gathering?
“And coming to him as to a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house.” “As you come to him” is a word that in the Old Testament has to do with drawing near to God to offer prayer and sacrifice. So while this speaks of a continual coming to Christ, it has reference to our coming together as the church on Sundays. And these verses tell us the identity of those who are a part of our Sunday meetings, because you can’t always tell what defines a crowd of people just by looking at them.
In 1938, a man named Sir Nicholas Winton oversaw and made possible the evacuation of 669 Jewish children. He evacuated them to England, right before Germany invaded Czechoslovakia at the beginning of World War II. He remained relatively silent about what he had done for 50 years. But his actions came to light when his wife found a scrapbook in their attic. It contained pictures and information of all the children he had rescued. She shared that scrapbook with a Holocaust researcher, who then shared it with a BBC human interest news show called That’s Life. When they found out about it, they thought “this is a good story,” so they invited Sir Winton to be a part of the audience for one show.
At one point, the host, Esther Rantzen, honored Sir Winton for what he had done. She then asked if anyone in the audience was among the children that Sir Winton had rescued. More than two dozen people stood up, and there were many tears. She went on to ask if anyone was a child or grandchild of someone who had been rescued. The entire audience stood to their feet. Suddenly, an audience became defined. On the surface they looked like a typical TV audience: random individuals, different professions, different backgrounds, different interests. But in reality, each and every one of them owed their lives to being saved by Sir Nicholas Winton. If you had not been evacuated by Sir Winton, or if you were not a descendant of someone he rescued, you would have been an outsider — you wouldn’t have fit in that audience, didn’t matter how much you wanted to be a part, you couldn’t pay to be a part. Your membership was defined by who rescued you. They weren’t connected because of something they did, but something that was done for them.
When the church gathers, we aren’t a random group of people. We have been defined by what God has done for us. We aren’t defined by our ethnicity, the color of our skin, our educational background, our financial position, our marital status, our occupation, or our age. We’re defined by the fact that we have been rescued, purchased by someone else — Jesus Christ, the living stone. And aren’t you glad?
Verse 4 tells us how we have been both united and rescued — it’s a summary of the gospel. “And coming to him as to a living stone, rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious.” We have come to Jesus, the Lamb of God, the Messiah who was rejected by men, tortured and put to death on a cross — for our forgiveness, for our redemption. But he is now alive and reigning in glory, because God the Father sees him as chosen and precious. And now, because we have come to him, we are being built together as living stones in your spiritual house.
And although Peter is speaking of the church at large, he is also speaking of each local church, defined even more specifically by the elders who care for that church — to which he refers later in chapter 5. The elders, the pastors, are required because the church is composed of living stones. Now, even though there’s a bunch of bricks — you’re going to be surprised how all those bricks are just there on the ground — it doesn’t mean anything. Living stones are being connected to each other, built into each other as they’re built into Christ. We don’t have the option of not being a part of God’s spiritual house: if we’ve come to the living stone, we are a living stone as well. There’s no place for individualistic, isolated Christianity, and our coming together, our meetings, display that reality. The writer of Hebrews says, in chapter 10, verse 25: “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Every Sunday we’re looking around at living stones being built into a spiritual house.
But what are living stones, and what’s the spiritual house? And we’ve heard about this numerous times in the conference. Peter is using significant imagery from the Old Testament to describe the church. The spiritual house refers to a temple constructed of stones. And in the Old Testament, the temple was the center of God’s relationship with his people — it’s hard for us to imagine its importance. The temple was where sacrifices were offered to make atonement for sin; where God’s people gathered for annual feasts; where God met with his people; where God manifested his presence.
Now, 600 years before Jesus appeared on earth, the prophet Ezekiel prophesied there would be a greater temple, that far surpassed the splendor of the physical, earthly temple. And the temple of Ezekiel’s day was destroyed by the Babylonian forces in 586 BC, but it was reconstructed about 70 years later; and 500 years later, Herod the Great expanded the temple, 20 years before Jesus was born. But Ezekiel wasn’t prophesying about Herod’s upgrade to the temple. Jesus alluded to that when he identified himself as the temple, when he said, in John 2:19:
John 2:19 (as read in this session)
Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.
The temple he’s speaking of is his body — God in the flesh. But there’s another temple to come. After his death, resurrection and ascension, Jesus, along with the Father, sends the Spirit, who now dwells in people — his people. “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”
1 Corinthians 3:16 (as read in this session)
Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
Sugel made this point so well — I can’t do it as good as he did, but I’m going to try. I don’t know what kind of church, what kind of building your church meets in. It might have beautiful stained glass windows, beautiful architecture, columns, high ceilings. Or it might be a pretty ordinary room, with folding chairs and a dining room table for a pulpit. Or somewhere in between. I’ve been a part of churches that met in homes, movie theaters, schools, hotels, and beautiful auditoriums. But whatever your building looks like, I know this: your building is not God’s holy place; your building is not God’s temple; your sanctuary is not God’s dwelling. Your people are. Isn’t that amazing? Where we find God’s people, we find God’s presence.
Ephesians 2:22 (as read in this session)
In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
We’re being built together into a dwelling place for God, and the building happens as we come to the living stone — whom Peter goes on to describe, in verse 6, as the cornerstone. I’m going to let you read this: 1 Peter 2:6-7.
1 Peter 2:6-7 (as read in this session)
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.” 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.”
Why is it important that Jesus is the cornerstone of the building? Because the cornerstone defines the building — it establishes the wall lines, the corners, the angles, the directions. If your cornerstone is off, everything’s off. And our response to the cornerstone determines our eternal destiny. For those who believe, the cornerstone is the source of eternal joy, a sign that we are God’s possession, that we’ve been chosen by no merit of our own, to belong to him. But those who don’t believe, and find this cornerstone offensive, will stumble over it and end up being crushed by it.
Peter’s drawing a line. He’s saying the church has borders — it has insiders and outsiders. He says, in 1 Corinthians 14:23-24:
1 Corinthians 14:23-24 (as read in this session)
If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all.
There are insiders and outsiders. And coming to Christ makes us a necessary and vital part of that spiritual house. And the building of this spiritual house has been going on long before we arrived, and it will continue long after we’re gone.
14 years ago, Jeff and I were part of a church plant in Louisville, Kentucky. This was the second church plant for Julie and me, but it was no less exciting. When we arrived, there was no Sovereign Grace Church of Louisville — just a group of 40 people who wanted to see a church established. And over the past 14 years, God has done just that. Sunday after Sunday, since September of 2012, we have been meeting to sing God’s praise, pray, hear God’s word preached, share the Lord’s Supper, see individuals baptized, exercise the varied gifts of the Spirit, and fellowship. And three years ago, God enabled us to purchase a building, so that we’re no longer moving all over Louisville. Now we really have a church — but we already had a church, because the church is not the building, and the church certainly didn’t begin with us. And if our church shut down, Christ’s church would continue to be built, because we have been built into it through Jesus Christ. We have come to Jesus, the living stone.
Do we recognize who we are and who dwells within us? The spiritual house we’re being built into isn’t just made up of the people we see in the room — it’s a glorious spiritual house, made up of the church past, present and future. We’re building on the faith and traditions and practices and example of those who have gone before us. We’re joined to local churches throughout the world, gathering as unique expressions of the body of Christ. We’re joining with the saints gathered around the throne right now. We aren’t trying to come up with something new and exciting — we don’t have to. The Sunday gathering isn’t a production company.
Someone asked me earlier what would I be concerned about of the last 20 years of the evangelical worship — the worship of the evangelical church. And I said the thing I’m most concerned about is how much we have begun to idolize production. Everything’s produced now. Technology is everywhere. And you start to wonder: could the Holy Spirit even work without all our stuff? And the clear answer is: yes. He may even do more without the stuff. Just a thought.
We’re the church of Jesus Christ, with living stones being built into a spiritual house that has its origins in eternity, and will continue forever. Our gatherings are defined by the reality of the church, against whom the gates of hell will not prevail. That’s who’s gathering.
II. What are we doing?
The second two questions are a lot shorter. “For a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices.” We’re being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices. We’re the temple, but we’re also the priests in the temple, because this temple isn’t made up of inanimate stones — it’s made up of living stones.
I grew up Roman Catholic. And when I was 14 years old, I wanted to become a priest. I went to a junior seminary for a year; I wanted to get started early on the pathway to becoming a priest. Here’s why: I thought being a priest would make me closer to God, and enable me to help others connect with God. And basically, I thought being a priest would show God that I was better than everybody else. So you might ask what happened: the seminary shut down at the end of the year, so I had to make other plans. My motivations for wanting to be a priest were certainly suspect and open to evaluation.
But Peter says here that everyone in Christ is now a part of a holy priesthood. And we don’t have to be Roman Catholic to think of ourselves as some kind of priest — someone who’s closer to God than everyone else, someone that God needs to help people connect to him. It’s easy to be a Christian pastor or leader and see ourselves that way; many musicians see themselves that way: “we will take you into God’s presence, we will bring you into the throne room.” I remember one time I led at a chapel, and a woman came up to me in the bookstore and said, “thank you so much for leading us into the throne room.” And I said, “I don’t think I did that, because I can’t. Only Jesus can do that.”
And we want to see what Peter’s doing here. He’s redefining the priesthood that’s been a part of Israel’s history for hundreds of years. Up until Jesus, only the high priest, one of Aaron’s descendants, could enter the Holy of Holies once a year, on the Day of Atonement — he was the intermediary between God and his people. And then you had the Levitical priests, who fulfilled other responsibilities of the temple. Peter’s speaking to a Gentile, primarily Gentile audience — people he describes, at the beginning of his letter, as “elect exiles.” They were, in every way, far from God. But now, through their union with Jesus Christ, the living stone, the high priest, they too are part of a holy priesthood, able to draw near to God.
We’re all priests: old, young, men, women, rich, poor, educated, uneducated, strong and weak. You’ve come to the living stone; you’re part of a holy priesthood. You can’t say, “well, I don’t know if I want that” — I don’t think you want to have that argument with Jesus. If you’ve come to the living stone, you’re part of a holy priesthood, and we’re offering spiritual sacrifices. What are those? Now remember, this is everyone in the church — this is not just the people on the platform. We’re offering up sacrifices of praise and prayer and songs. But we’re also offering up sacrifices of receiving God’s word, serving others for God’s glory, giving tithes and offerings, being a means of God’s grace to those in need. Priests doing this kind of stuff all over the room. And our sacrifices extend beyond Sunday morning — they include things like generosity, sharing the gospel, and simply doing good to others: “do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”
As most of us here serve in some kind of leadership role in our churches, it’s important to reflect on whether or not we see our members as a holy priesthood or not. As leaders, we tend to take the burden upon ourselves for the meeting: we prepare, we study, we practice, we plan. We shudder to think what would happen if we showed up unprepared to the meeting. Some of us may be thinking right now of this coming Sunday: “I’m not going to be prepared, what will happen?” I mean, you should prepare, we should plan, we should rehearse — but we’re serving with a holy priesthood. How often do we consider what God wants to do through those who have gathered? The members of our church aren’t spectators, or an audience — we are the church. Every member is offering spiritual sacrifices: welcome one another (anybody can do that), instruct one another, greet one another, comfort one another, serve one another, address one another, admonish one another, encourage one another. (“Oh, but that doesn’t make me feel as good as singing.“)
If we know what’s taking place, we’ll see that sacrifices are taking place all over the room, and not just when we sing. Singing is a gift from God, but let’s not miss all the ways that God is working through his people. For those of you who plan your meetings: do we make room in our gatherings for the whole body to be involved in various ways? Obviously the bigger our church is, the fewer ways people can participate in a high-profile way. But let’s not make the mistake of thinking we have to put on a performance each time the church meets. Scripture readers, ushers, vocalists, administrators, people with the gift of faith, with the gift of helps, with the gift of mercy — we’re all living stones joined to the living stone. It doesn’t mean there’s no distinction between pastors and members, or that God doesn’t use different people in different ways. But it does mean that everyone has an important part to play in our gatherings.
Again, Sugel addressed this yesterday, and I’m so glad he did: one often-overlooked implication of a holy priesthood is valuing the sound of our people singing. How do we determine if the worship was good? Did the band play together? Were the vocalists in tune? Did the drummer keep good time? Those are good questions to ask — but the main question we should be asking is: how well did the congregation sing? And could they hear themselves? The members of our churches have far more to offer for the strengthening of this spiritual house than we’re typically aware.
I pray that some of you are feeling a release of a burden as I’m speaking. But if not, this last point is going to make sure that you do.
III. By what means are we doing it?
We are living stones being built up into a spiritual house; we are a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices — acceptable to God. I have heard this in every message, and it’s never gotten old.
We’ve received excellent instruction on how we’re to oversee and lead our services in this conference — our meetings, our worship. And I can’t remember whether it was Jeff — I think it was you, Jeff — we have a tendency to move to a checklist mentality as we head back to our churches. We feel equipped, and we can’t wait to get back to our churches: “do we examine our hearts? Do we exalt God? Do we preach God’s word? Do we emphasize the gospel? Do we point people towards mission? Do we depend on the Spirit? Do we engage the church in service? Check. So God must be pleased” — he might even be pointing out to some of the angels, “look how they’ve grown, it’s amazing.”
And we are certainly able, by God’s grace, to please him; we’re commanded to please him: “examine what pleases the Lord” (Ephesians 5:10). But then we’re reminded of what the writer of Hebrews tells us, in Hebrews 11:6: “without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
I’ve been leading music in the church for 50 years. I am more aware than ever that I need the work of Jesus Christ to make anything I do acceptable in God’s eyes. I am seeking to please him. But as Harold Best has said, “all our offerings of worship are at once humbled and exalted by the strong, saving work of Christ” — humbled, because apart from Christ, God would not receive them; exalted, because through Christ, God receives our offerings as though Jesus himself offered them. What we have in Christ is all we need to come to God.
Years ago I attended a conference — so long ago I don’t remember the theme — but I do remember, on the morning following the first night session, the leader of the conference stood up and he spoke to us about what we need to do. He told us that a window had been opened to heaven, and we failed to walk through it. For whatever reasons, we came close, but we didn’t quite receive all the blessings God had to give us. I remember feeling confused, discouraged, and defeated. If the leader of the conference had stood up and said “there are even greater blessings that await us,” I would have understood that — but he didn’t say that. And I think you feel that way after certain Sundays. You look back at what went wrong: the parts that didn’t seem to land on people, the poor transitions, the awkward moments — you just keep replaying them in your mind: “why did I do that?” The times you feel like the Spirit was just saying “I can’t take it anymore, I’m going to the church down the street.”
And understand: I’m not saying that we don’t aim to do better. But we must never give our people — who come to God through faith in Jesus Christ, who are living stones being built into the spiritual house — the impression that it ultimately depends on us for them to enjoy the riches of grace we’ve received in Christ. The invitation always remains: we come to God through the living stone, not on the basis of our performance, not on the basis of our promises, but Christ’s perfection.
Hebrews 10:19-22 (as read in this session)
Since therefore, brothers, we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
What an invitation. We can come to his throne. Jesus has brought us near by his blood.
This is building off of what Jeff shared earlier: we will never have the perfect gathering, we will never have a perfect liturgy, we will never have the perfect song set, never have a perfect sermon. Our church may never have the building, numbers, location or influence we’d like. But we have God’s word, we have God’s gospel, we have God’s Spirit, we have God’s people, we have living stones being built into a spiritual house, and we have a perfect Savior, who has redeemed and rescued us through his perfect obedience, substitutionary death and triumphant resurrection, and who is one day returning for his bride — so that we might feel the love of God, and feast forever at the marriage supper of the Lamb. And we will never again be anxious, concerned, or discouraged about the meetings of the church, because God himself will lead us. Yes, we can — yes, amen, amen.
We can grow in the ways we serve our people. We can love them better. We can show them the glories of God better: the sufficiency of his word, the power of the gospel, our need for his Spirit, and an awareness of the church the Spirit is building as a dwelling place for God. But one day, we will be with him, and he will be with us — not by faith, but by sight. Amen.
Revelation 21:1-4 (as read in this session)
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Amen. One more: let’s look forward to this coming Sunday with new eyes — eyes open to the greatness and the goodness of the God we worship, the authority of God, the beauty and sufficiency of his word, the beauty and the power of the gospel, the joy and the urgency of the message we proclaim, the fact that he dwells with us — in the unseen realities that we trust in now by faith, but one day we’ll enjoy face to face.
Father, we are in awe of your goodness. How can grace be so good, and how can we be blind to it so often? How can we fail to marvel at what you do among us every Sunday, and what you do in us every day? Would you, by your Spirit, keep these truths in our hearts and in our lives, that Jesus might receive glory in us and through us, through the power of your Spirit, for the good of your people, for the saving of many more, all for the glory of your name. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Note on this transcript
Transcribed from the Fieles 26 conference audio (whisper). The room audio contains the English talk interleaved with live Spanish interpretation; this note keeps only Bob Kauflin’s English. Scripture quotes are transcribed as read by the speaker, not re-checked against a specific published English Bible edition — there is no English Bible text in this vault to verify them against, so treat the exact wording as approximate rather than a citation of a specific edition (e.g. ESV). No runaway Whisper loops, but many short stretches were duplicated two to five times in a row (overlapping transcription segments); those were collapsed to a single instance.