“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 . . . you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:5, 9
We are a bunch of troubled, touchy, self-centered people who God has chosen and brought together to be His church. The Apostle Peter calls us “living stones” that are being built into a spiritual house. Just as a stone mason selects each individual stone out of the pile, chipping off the rough edges so that it will fit into just the right place, so the Lord has selected each member of this church, and He’s chipping away at each one of us by His Word and Spirit, sanctifying us, fitting us together as a spiritual house where He is praised.
We exist to glorify the one true and living God. Through God’s grace in Jesus Christ we are His people, and He is our God. He calls the church to glorify Him by preaching the Scriptures and administering the sacraments in corporate worship, by making Him known through evangelism and missions, by incorporating people into the body of the church, and by building up believers to maturity so that they know God’s Word and lovingly obey Him.