Well, thank you, Clint. It's good to be back with you this morning, and I'm excited to start a new series that we'll spend the rest of our time this summer going through, a series on the church, one of my favorite things to talk about. And if you would, please turn with me to 1 Peter 2. I'm going to read for us the verses four through 10. And these verses are gonna form a foundation for us for this new series that we'll consider. And you'll find the verses where we get the title for our series, A People for Himself, A People of His Own Possession. That comes right out of 1 Peter chapter two. Over the next seven weeks, we're going to consider God's people. We're gonna consider the church and we're gonna consider how Jesus builds and governs his church, who makes up the church and ultimately why the church is so important. This morning, we will orient ourselves to the subject and we're gonna use the words of scripture to do that. So please follow along with me in 1 Peter 2, verses four through 10. This is the word of the Lord. 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, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 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 and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. They stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. 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. Let's pray. Almighty God and Heavenly Father, With what kind of love have you lavished upon us that we should be called the children of God? And so we are. Once we were not your people, once we had not received mercy, but thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, that now we are your people. We have received mercy. As we begin this study of your word, about what it means to be your people, what it means to be your church, Would you be pleased to bless us with your very self as you make yourself known to us in the very pages of scripture? In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we pray. Amen. Amen. Well, why a series on the church? Well, another way we can ask that question is, is the church important? Is it important? And increasingly, If we look in the world and our culture, the answer is no. Many are leaving the church. Statistics show that people are leaving, that attendance is dwindling, that the COVID and the lockdowns, that that accelerated what was already the trend. And on top of declining attendance rates, even the concept of church membership seems so outdated and unnecessary. But regardless of whatever the trends are, in this country at least, and especially because of them, it's worthwhile for us to consider the church, to consider its nature, its mission, its importance. A lack of church attendance and a lack of membership, it's unheard of in the history of the church. especially by those who profess to be Christians, who profess to be Christ followers. It's really unheard of where we are today. And so it's always been understood that the church is vitally important. So much so that our confession, our Westminster confession, it states this about the church. It says, the church is the kingdom of God, of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation. And that's a very strong statement. And we'll talk about what does that mean? Ordinarily, what kind of exceptions are there that they're thinking about? But right here you see the importance of the church. And it's right to think of the church in this way. And so as an introduction to the series, and as this sermon this morning, we want to argue for why it is worthwhile to do this series and why it is worthwhile for us to consider the church. And it is the case that the church is indispensable. You cannot love Jesus without loving the church. To be a Christian is to be a part of the church. Well, how can we make such firm statements like that? It's because the church is the body of Christ. The church is His body and His bride. God, through Christ, has reconciled a people for Himself and a people for one another. It is a people, it's a plural, it's a group that belongs to Him. And so James Bannerman, who wrote the textbook on church doctrine proper, he says that a solitary Christian is worse than a contradiction. He is an anomaly. That's how rare it is. There is no such thing as a solitary Christian because God has saved a people for himself. It is at the same time both a union with Christ and a communion with one another. And so we're going to consider why the church is so important. We're gonna consider a lot of things in this series that I'm excited to talk to you about. I love talking about the church and about Presbyterianism. If you're excited about that, then you're in for a treat. We're gonna talk about all those things. But this morning, we're gonna consider the church itself, why the church is so important. and we're gonna use 1 Peter as a foundation of our time together. There are at least three biblical arguments for the importance of the church that come right out of our text this morning. So look there with me as we go along. The first argument, the first reason why the church is so important is because the church is unlike any other institution on earth. The church is the only institution that is divinely instituted and divinely ruled by Christ as mediator. It is not a human institution, but it is divinely instituted, it is established by Christ himself. That's the first reason why it is so important. The only institution The only society, the only group that Jesus promises to build is the church. Jesus does not promise to build any nation. Jesus does not promise to build the United States of America. Jesus does not promise to build up any other group that we could possibly organize ourselves as, but he promises to build the church. And the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. So Christ built his church, he continues to build his church, and he continues to rule over his church as the head. And this is what we see in 1 Peter. He says, Christ alone, no mere man on earth is head of the church. He is the cornerstone. He is the head stone. This cornerstone was rejected by the world, but used of God as the foundation upon which to build the church. So he describes this in verse four. As you come to him, as you come to Christ, a living stone rejected by men, but in the sight of God, chosen and precious. Jesus is the precious one of God. Is Jesus precious to you? He's chosen and precious of God. And upon him, everything else is built. He is the cornerstone. He is the headstone. He's the chief stone. So in building these kinds of structures, this is the stone that's set first in the corner. Every other stone is built in relation to this stone. Every other stone has its foundation and its security and its relationship to the entire structure, to the entire building is tied to this stone. That is the relationship between Christ and His church. Elsewhere, He's described as the head of the body. Christ is the head of the church. Colossians 1.18, He's the head of the body of the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. And in Ephesians 5, verse 23, Paul is talking about husbands and wives. He's giving practical advice to these spouses and to marriage. And he explains that the marriage relationship is to reflect the marriage, the marriage between Christ and his bride, the church. And so he writes that, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its savior. So Christ is the head of the church. The church is his body, which is why Jesus would say to Saul on the Damascus road, as Saul's persecuting the church, Jesus would come to him, confront him in that vision and say, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Your persecution of the church is persecuting me. And so in this series, we're going to consider the questions of how Jesus as head, as ruler of the church, how he governs, how he rules his church. We're gonna consider those things, especially we'll consider why we embrace Presbyterianism, why we cherish that, why we love that form of church government as the biblical means by which Jesus governs his church. We're gonna consider all of those questions in later sermons, but for now, We simply need to recognize that he is the head of the church. There stands then a special relationship between Jesus and the church, which is not replicated, is not found in any other institution, in any other group, in any other program anywhere in the world. It's found in the church. That's the first reason we see for the importance of the church. It is Jesus's very own body. It is his bride. He rules over her as head, as cornerstone. And such an institution is found nowhere else. It's only found in the church. But there's a second reason we see why the church is so important and it's related to it, is that the church is God's people. The church is a people for himself, his own treasured possession. The church and no other group does God have a relationship like this with. The church is God's people. Jesus is the precious living cornerstone chosen by God. And likewise, see how Peter describes us, we ourselves are living stones. Like he, the living stone, we become living stones being built upon the cornerstone, built up into a spiritual house, into the household of God through Christ. We are the household of God. That is the church. We are built upon the foundation of Christ and his apostles and his prophets after him who have laid the foundation. And now we believers in the church, we're built upon that foundation. We are built up into the household, a temple to offer sacrifices to the living God and a temple for his own dwelling. This is why Peter quotes from the prophet Isaiah, that Christ is the chosen and precious cornerstone. And he says that whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. See, it's within this group of people chosen by God that has eternal life, where salvation is found in embracing and joining ourselves to this chief living cornerstone. But for those who do not believe, this stone has been rejected and it's become a stone of stumbling. It's become a rock of offense. And that is what they were destined to do, Peter says. They've disobeyed and they've rejected the word. They've rejected the church. And they don't understand it. They're apart from the church. But this is not who we are. Rather, notice how Peter describes us. But we are a chosen race. We are a royal priesthood. We are a holy nation. We're a people for his own possession. We are that which Christ himself possesses, that which he has chosen, that which he has made regal and holy, and that which he has done whom he has chosen, what he has accomplished, we have no right to dismiss so quickly and so half-heartedly. Christ, he says of the church, he says that she is mine and I love her and I gave myself for her completely so that she might be holy and blameless on the day when I return and I protect her and I watch over her and I will guard her and keep her. I'll never let anything bad happen to her. That's what Christ says of the church. But all too often we can say, I've loved Jesus, I follow Jesus, but in the same breath say, but I have no need for the church. We see the disconnect. And it's the same with our earthly marriages. I know the reason why you guys called me. It's because you wanted Jess. I know that, and that's okay. I would have made the same decision. But you know what? We're a package deal. So if you were to come to one of us and say, Levi, you know what? I like you just fine, but Jess, I'm not so sure about. Or Jess, you're wonderful, but your husband. That's not how it works. You can't love one of us without loving both of us. But do you know that our marriages God instituted marriage for our own benefit, yes, for our own mutual help between husband and wife, but even more so because our marriages symbolize and point us to the greater reality of Jesus's love of his bride, of the church. And so we referenced Ephesians 5 already. If we were to read that chapter, if we were to read it only with our eyes and focusing on our marriages, we'd be missing the point. Because Paul instructs wives, he instructs wives to submit to their husbands, he instructs husbands to love their wives as Christ loved the church. See, he goes on to describe what happens in a marriage. A man will leave his father and mother, and he will hold fast to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. Why? Why does Paul say this? He says that this mystery is profound. And he says, I'm saying that it refers to Christ and the church. The mystery of a man leaving his family and joining to his wife is a profound mystery, but that relates to Christ and the church. It refers back to him. Our marriages are to reflect the profound mystery of Christ and his bride. So you cannot have one without the other because they are one flesh. Just as you cannot have the head apart from the body, just as you cannot have a wife apart from the husband, you cannot have Jesus apart from the church. It is unto the church, the body of believers, that it is declared, you are a chosen race. You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for himself. So nowhere else is there an institution whose founder and builder is Jesus Christ, and nowhere else is there a society on earth whose membership is made up of Christ's very own body, Christ's very own treasured possession. But that's not all. There's a third reason that Peter gives for why the church is so important. And that is because the church is also given a spiritual mission. It is the church. It's the church alone who has been put on this mission. The church is the place in which we live out our chosen and royal duty of offering spiritual sacrifices to God, 1 Peter 2, verse five. We offer our spiritual sacrifices to God and we proclaim the excellencies of him who has called us out of darkness into marvelous light, verse nine. We are to offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ. This is our worship. And it's in the context of the church through which we do this. Now, certainly we can worship God throughout the week, privately, in our families, in all of these ways, we can do that. We offer ourselves completely to him as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing in his sight. We do that throughout our weeks. In every area of our lives, we ought to do that. but it is within the context of the church and the corporate gathering of the people as we are today in the Lord's Day worship where we can offer our prayers and our hymns and we can worship God together. We can pray and confess back to God his very own word that he delivers to us. We can partake and have communion within the sacraments that he's given to us. And it is only together that we can worship him in these ways. These things have been given to the church and given for the church. And we're gonna discuss all these different things. We'll consider all of these things, the sacraments, our worship, as we go through this series. But we worship God together. And it is also in the context of the church where we see the mission of the church advanced. The church has been put on mission by Jesus, her head and King. We have been chosen as a people for himself, Peter says, so that, there is a so that, there is a purpose. So that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who calls you out of darkness into marvelous light. In other words, it's within the context of the church that the Great Commission can be advanced and fulfilled. It is through the church. In verse 10, I think I forgot to read it for us, but he promises us and he tells us, once you were not a people, but now you are God's people. Once you have not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Peter recalling that wonderful prophecy from Hosea, that we were once not God's people. That's true of all of us. At one point we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy. Now we can be called God's people, his own treasured possession. And our mission is to go, therefore, and proclaim this mighty God, making disciples of all nations, proclaiming this marvelous light that shines in this dark and broken world. That is the importance of the church, clearly seen throughout scripture, especially here in this chapter. that we are a people for himself, that we are God's own treasured possession, and that we've been set on mission by him. Nowhere else are those things found apart from the church. The church is vitally important, and it'll be well worth our time to consider the church in more detail as we go through this series. But as we wrap up this morning, I want to offer just two clarifications about this series that I believe will be helpful about what we're gonna talk about. In his great book, Dr. Waters, How Jesus Runs the Church, he provides these same clarifications as he begins his study on Presbyterian form of government and on the church. So these are his clarifications and they're very appropriate for us as well. So you might be new to our church, you might be visiting, maybe you've been attending for a long time, and you're still unsure about what it means to be Presbyterian, or why we have the word Presbyterian in our name, or what it even means. We're something like a unicorn, especially in this part of the country. There's not that many of us, so we have to stick together. Come on. This is one of the reasons why we wanted to do this series, to offer our biblical understanding of the church, to explain why we embrace reformed theology, Presbyterian church government, what that looks like, why we embrace it. And so as we go through this series about the importance of the church, we are going to stress the importance of our form of government. We're going to argue for and explain from Scripture why our conviction is that Presbyterianism is not only an ideal form of church government, but truly and ultimately a biblical one. However, I do want to stress these two clarifications at the outset, and I hope that we'll keep these in mind and that they'll be valuable and two important distinctions for us as we go through this series. So the first is that there is a difference between the being of the church and the wellbeing of the church. There's a distinction or a difference between being and wellbeing. This is vital to remember. So the being or the essence or the existence of the church is not dependent on Presbyterianism. Or to put it the other way, you do not have to be a Presbyterian church in order to be a true church. So don't misunderstand what we're saying. We're not saying that we're the only true church. That's not what we're saying. So as we go through this series, we need to keep this clarification in mind. The PCAR denomination is not the only denomination. Christ the King is not the only true church, even though we believe strongly in our convictions. And this is also true of church membership. We're gonna talk about church membership in a later sermon, and there's only one requirement for church membership, and it's not that you're a Presbyterian. That's not the requirement, even though we hope that you will be, and we'll be stressing that to you. We believe it's important, yes, but it is not the main thing. But it reminds me of, we just had our PCA General Assembly a few weeks ago, a couple weeks ago now, and if you don't know what that is, you don't know what the PCA is or General Assembly is, then we'll be talking about all those things. But during the assembly, we had a luncheon, and Dr. John Payne gave a talk in honor of Harry Reeder, who was the longtime pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Alabama. And he passed away unexpectedly in May. And the PCA had lost several very good and godly men this past year, even before General Assembly. Tim Keller, Steve Smallman, who has written several of the books down in the resource table. If you go down there, he's written a lot of those basics of the face kind of books. and Harry Reader. So it was a happy General Assembly, but a somber one as well, missing these figures. But at this talk, John Payne, he shared one of Harry's favorite jokes, which I have to share. One of the favorite things he would say is that you don't have to be a Presbyterian to go to heaven, but why take the chance? It's a great joke. It's hilarious, even. But it is a joke, and I hope you understand what we're saying. We're not saying that you need to be a Presbyterian to go to heaven or to be a true church. There's a difference between the being of the church and the well-being. The church can and does exist without it, but what we are saying is as far as the well-being of the church goes. As far as what's best for the church, what we think is the most biblical way of being a church, we believe humbly yet firmly that Presbyterianism is the biblical, that it is what's best for our churches and our churches are better off for it. So that's the first clarification. The second, along with that, is that it is always the spirit and not Presbyterianism that gives life to the church. If I speak in the language of angels and men, but I do not have love, I'm a noisy gong and a clanging cymbal. And in the same way, if we are a perfect Presbyterian church with well-running committees and structures in place, and yet do not have the spirit, we are a dead church. Yet at the same time, God works through means. And so we will pursue both of these things. We will pursue to worship God in spirit and in truth. It's a both and and it's not an either or. And so commitment to confessional integrity to our standards is not opposed to biblical truth or biblical fidelity. They support one another. And in the same way, Presbyterian polity, our system of how we do the business of the church is not opposed to a faithful and a fruitful spirit-filled life. So I hope that you'll remember both of these clarifications as we continue this series. But most of all, I hope at the end of the day that we'll remember that we are a people for himself. That's what it's all about. God has called us, out of all the peoples of the world, he's called us to be a people unto himself, that he would bless, that he would grant and give his name unto, that he would save so that he might receive glory from our worship, honor and praise from us always, and that we might enjoy eternal blessedness with him as we were created to be. And so as we get into the individual trees of doctrine and government and structures and all these things, let us never lose sight of the forest that God has called us unto himself, that he has made us a family with one another, that we will not find this kind of family anywhere else in the world, this blood-bought, spirit-filled community. It is only the church. It is only the church where this is found. and it is well worth it for us to give our time to it. So let's do that and let's pray now together. Lord Jesus, we confess that we have not loved you fully because we have not always fully loved your church. But we thank you for her. We thank you that you have called us out of darkness and into marvelous light. And this light is not for us to have by ourselves but in community with each other. So help us to love one another as you have loved us, to forgive each other as we have been forgiven, and to live together as the hands and feet of Christ as you have called us to be. Your chosen race, your royal priesthood, your holy nation, a people for yourself. Bless us in our time in this series, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.