Kaleo San Diego Church > Sermons > The Work of the Mission

The Work of the Mission

David Fairchild
Mar 1, 2009
Series: Nehemiah

Nehemiah 3:1-32: "Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set its doors. They consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Tower of Hananel. 2 And next to him the men of Jericho built. And next to them Zaccur the son of Imri built. 3 The sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate. They laid its beams and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. 4 And next to them Meremoth the son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz repaired. And next to them Meshullam the son of Berechiah, son of Meshezabel repaired. And next to them Zadok the son of Baana repaired. 5 And next to them the Tekoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their Lord. 6 Joiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah repaired the Gate of Yeshanah. They laid its beams and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. 7 And next to them repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, the seat of the governor of the province Beyond the River. 8 Next to them Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, goldsmiths, repaired. Next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, repaired, and they restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall. 9 Next to them Rephaiah the son of Hur, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired. 10 Next to them Jedaiah the son of Harumaph repaired opposite his house. And next to him Hattush the son of Hashabneiah repaired. 11 Malchijah the son of Harim and Hasshub the son of Pahath-moab repaired another section and the Tower of the Ovens. 12 Next to him Shallum the son of Hallohesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired, he and his daughters. 13 Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate. They rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and repaired a thousand cubits of the wall, as far as the Dung Gate. 14 Malchijah the son of Rechab, ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem, repaired the Dung Gate. He rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. 15 And Shallum the son of Col-hozeh, ruler of the district of Mizpah, repaired the Fountain Gate. He rebuilt it and covered it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. And he built the wall of the Pool of Shelah of the king's garden, as far as the stairs that go down from the City of David. 16 After him Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, ruler of half the district of Beth-zur, repaired to a point opposite the tombs of David, as far as the artificial pool, and as far as the house of the mighty men. 17 After him the Levites repaired: Rehum the son of Bani. Next to him Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of Keilah, repaired for his district. 18 After him their brothers repaired: Bavvai the son of Henadad, ruler of half the district of Keilah. 19 Next to him Ezer the son of Jeshua, ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section opposite the ascent to the armory at the buttress. 20 After him Baruch the son of Zabbai repaired another section from the buttress to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest. 21 After him Meremoth the son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz repaired another section from the door of the house of Eliashib to the end of the house of Eliashib. 22 After him the priests, the men of the surrounding area, repaired. 23 After them Benjamin and Hasshub repaired opposite their house. After them Azariah the son of Maaseiah, son of Ananiah repaired beside his own house. 24 After him Binnui the son of Henadad repaired another section, from the house of Azariah to the buttress 25 and to the corner. Palal the son of Uzai repaired opposite the buttress and the tower projecting from the upper house of the king at the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh 26 and the temple servants living on Ophel repaired to a point opposite the Water Gate on the east and the projecting tower. 27 After him the Tekoites repaired another section opposite the great projecting tower as far as the wall of Ophel. 28 Above the Horse Gate the priests repaired, each one opposite his own house. 29 After them Zadok the son of Immer repaired opposite his own house. After him Shemaiah the son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the East Gate, repaired. 30 After him Hananiah the son of Shelemiah and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph repaired another section. After him Meshullam the son of Berechiah repaired opposite his chamber. 31 After him Malchijah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired as far as the house of the temple servants and of the merchants, opposite the Muster Gate, and to the upper chamber of the corner. 32 And between the upper chamber of the corner and the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and the merchants repaired."
INTRODUCTION

Previously in Nehemiah: We've seen God give Nehemiah His heart for this broken city called Jerusalem. The walls have come down, the gates are broken and burning and God's people are scattered. Nehemiah's heart is broken and he spends months praying and planning until the right opportunity to speak to the Persian king and ask permission for the resources freedom to go and built this city again. Nehemiah then spends several more months traveling from Susa to Jerusalem only to be greeted with immediate resistance and mockery from various enemies.

Nehemiah's response is not to repay their words with insults but to call God's people to "rise up and build," realizing that the God of heaven is the one who will cause them to build. God's glory is at stake in the project; it is too big for one man and unless the God of heaven leads, nothing will get done.

The people are inspired by their hero, Nehemiah, and put their hearts and hands into the work. Previously disheartened by 141 years of brokenness, God's people rise and no longer look back and instead believe that God is at work in their midst.

God wants to build His city again so that it would be a model of what it means to love Him and live under His gracious rule. This was for the sake of the world. God's people were called to be a light to the nations and welcome in those who would come to trust in God.

The church is called a "city on a hill" (Matt. 5:14) by Jesus and we're to be built up and placed as an alternate city to the city of San Diego. We're to show our city what it looks like to eat, rest, recreate, learn, comfort, forgive, honor, love, pursue justice, create music, art, share lives and resources, engage in relationships with a different sex and social ethic, and with different values where we're no longer our own but brought together as His people to serve and consider others greater than ourselves. All of this is so that those who live in our city, marked by selfishness, abuse, addiction, violence, pride, vanity, loneliness, materialism, bitterness, gossip, slander, manipulation, prejudice, injustice, and apathy towards all of them might see what God's coming Kingdom is like and want to be part of His revolution for His glory.

This great missional task to go and make disciples, teaching them to love and follow Jesus in all they do (Matt. 28:19-20), has been passed down for 20 centuries. Through God's grace and the shedding of His blood, it has come to you and me in this moment and time that we might make disciples of this great city, San Diego, teaching her to love and follow Jesus in all she does. We are the recipients and trustees of this great call.

Just as Nehemiah stood up and said, "The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem" (Neh. 2:20), so Jesus proclaimed, "... I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18).

So, let's look at this chapter to glean insight from a gifted leader with a huge task before him. Let's ask the question, "What are you teaching us, Lord, from this list of names?"

The first thing we can immediately see is that this work matters to God.

I. This Work Matters to God

That God would, through Nehemiah, record their names for us to read some 2,500 years later is amazing. How many of you believe that when you stick around and stack chairs, God is going remember your work for the next two and a half millennium? Not many realize this. I'll bet these laborers were shocked to find their names had been recorded in the best selling book of all time. I mean, c'mon, you can brag about your accomplishments, but did you make it into the Bible? Yet this is exactly what God does in this chapter.

He takes average Joes and Janes and lifts up their work and says, "I know the work you've done and I will remember it for eternity." So many of us think that our contribution is simply too small to matter. But this is the opposite of what God is showing us by preserving this list. He's saying, "It may not matter to anyone else, but it matters to Me!" You might be quietly working behind the scenes without any recognition, but the only eyes of the universe that matter are upon you and He won't forget.

II. Saved for Something

God is in the building business and it's no mistake that Jesus came as a carpenter! He loves to put His hands to work to create and restore things. You could say He's in the restoration business. This chapter is far more than just a long list of names.

God preserved this list to show us that we are not simply saved from something, but for something. We are saved for the purposes of God and His mission.

So much of the concern of the church has typically been to save sinners from hell and God's wrath. And though that is certainly part of the story, it most definitely isn't all of it. This leaves the impression that once we "get saved" all that's happened is that we've essentially been giving a "GET OUT OF HELL, FREE" card.

But is that what God intends for us, nothing more than a fire escape? We are used to asking the question, "What would happen if you didn't wake up tomorrow? What would you do?" Again, a good question. But why don't we ask, "What will happen if you wake up tomorrow?" What are you going to do with your life?

The call to the Israelites is to a good work of giving themselves away for the challenging task before them. And it is work. Nehemiah doesn't sugar-coat it. But he says it's "good work" (2:20).

I want you to realize that you're being saved to something, not merely from something. This means that the problem of guilt is dealt with by being saved from our sin, but the meaning of life is given by hearing that you're saved for His glory and mission, which are essentially connected. To be saved for God's glory is to be in the glory business. He's called us to be so enthralled by Him, so passionate for Him, so in love with His beauty that we need to tell others of it.

C.S Lewis says this:

Men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: "Wasn't it glorious? Don't you think that magnificent?" Indeed we can't help doing it...To understand what [heaven] means we must imagine ourselves in perfect love with God-drunk with, drowned in, dissolved by, that delight, which...flows out from us incessantly again in effortless and perfect expression. The Scots catechism says a man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. But then we know these are the same thing. To fully enjoy is to glorify-in commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy him.

Do you believe that you've been saved for something or merely from something? How has this affected the way you view your purpose for living and the meaning for your life?

III. Priority of the Work

It's no accident that the work begins and ends at the Sheep Gate (v. 1, 32). The high priests realize that the most important thing they can do is to not only begin the work themselves as an example, but to set the eyes and hearts of God's people upon the priority of the work.

The Sheep Gate is at the north-east corner of the wall and it provided access to the place of worship for everyone who wanted to fellowship with God. It was not only close to the place where God's glory was in the Temple, it was the gate where the sheep traveled through as they were brought to be a sacrifice for sin.

By starting and ending their work there, and dedicating it to the Lord, the priests were saying, "Remember that God is Holy! Everything we do from here on must be done with that in mind. Remember that He is holy!"

This is so significant for us as we put our hands to the plow. We need to always remember that everything begins and ends with Jesus. You see, He isn't only our Great Shepherd, He is also the very opening into the Holy of Holies. He is the very sheep-gate of God's family (John 10:11). It is only through Him that we have access. And, He is the very Lamb of God who was dedicated to the Lord and slain for us so that we can come close to God and not be cast off.

IV. Unity of Vision

We can have the best individual intentions, and even share that same commitment, but until there is a radical unity of vision and labor, everything we do will only fall short. God has designed us so that we must work together. For this to be effective, we can't labor with our own individual agendas as our primary motivation. We must share and unify our vision.

When our vision is unified, trust comes more naturally because we're not competing for our own vision, but submitting together under Christ's. This is incredibly liberating.

In chapter two, Nehemiah gathered everyone together and preached to them. He called them to the work. He didn't go home then and dust his hands off. He had to organize them into teams, place them where they were going to work and then give them the needed authority and responsibility to do their part for the sake of the bigger vision. However, for Nehemiah, the task before him of building the wall was inextricably linked to the ultimate vision of God being glorified. They were one in the same to him.

It is vital that a church has both an overarching vision as well as a practical plan to execute that vision. Most of us will lean towards one interest or the other. Some of us enjoy working on visioneering type work where we think, pray and dream big dreams. And some of you are more inclined to asking the question, "How in the world is that going to get done?" Some of you are not interested in dreaming big or working out a practical plan but are more interested in making sure that we're not losing people along the way.

Let me just say this, each group is absolutely needed and will not be healthy without each cylinder engaged and working properly. This is why God gives various gifts to each of us for the sake of the church. The key is to ensure that we are all connected to the ultimate goal and vision of glorifying God by seeking the face of Christ in all we do.

If this is not the case, we will either have a great vision but no plan so nothing gets done, or a great plan, but no care for those who are putting their shoulders into it so people are dropping off like flies, etc. All three are significant and over the life of Kaleo, we'll find that we need to grow in one or more areas.

V. Different People

Nehemiah was able to get everyone involved. He mentions 38 different people from a variety of backgrounds in this list.

Priests, men of Jericho, craftsmen, city officials, women, bachelors, temple servants, city guards, merchants, etc., all came together for this work. I find it beautiful that such a diverse people from a wide variety of trades and backgrounds could come together under this single vision to build the wall.

So too, we are to show off how our God loves diversity and how this diversity comes together in unity as we become brothers and sisters in the same family.

Are there people whom you have a hard time working next to? Do you believe that God wants to show off diversity?

VI. Different Work, Same Mission

Nehemiah spent his time creating teams to make the work manageable and clear. They are unified under the same overarching vision as well as being committed to their specific task. This was a two to two and a half mile wall and would have never been completed had Nehemiah simply said, "Ok, build the wall!" It required planning and a clear mission.

Their mission was separated into 42 sections which focused on seven gates and their corresponding neighborhoods. Many of the workers were leading the restoration in their own neighborhoods.

As a movement, we are doing the same. We desire that all of you will have the same overarching vision that we communicate in our Gospel and Church Class, as well as a clear understanding of how that overall vision will be accomplished by God's grace, power, and wisdom exercised through the church. Our plan to see San Diego transformed by planting vibrant and multiplying communities throughout the county will require many, many teams of laborers willing to put their shoulders into the work and build for the glory of Christ.

The way we believe this can be done is by planting a number of churches throughout San Diego. We're praying that we'll be able to plant 15-20 churches over the next 7-10 years, and if each church has approximately 200 people, with 85% in missional communities, we'll need about 15 missional communities for each plant at minimum. This means a total of 225 MCs and about 25 more elders, 75 more deacons, 210 more MC leaders, 400 more apprentices, etc., that are all working through the main neighborhoods of San Diego.

We have our third site being planted in El Cajon as we speak.

Right now we have 3 Elders, 4 Elders candidates, 5 Deacons (we need several more Deacon Candidates), 15 MC leaders, about 18 Apprentices, and a number of leaders we're looking to develop and disciple so that they can develop and disciple future leaders to become part of a missional/planting team.

These numbers can sound overwhelming, but if we are making disciples and growing them, this should be the natural outcome of a group of Jesus followers living out His mission to be a city on a hill, a city within our great city.

We also have a commitment to help plant churches outside of our own movement in San Diego. I sit on the board for Acts 29 Network which already has four other churches that are our sister churches in San Diego (The Fields, Crossroads, The Resolved, and Infusion Church). Also, we have a very close relationship with Harbor Presbyterian Churches which currently has ten churches throughout the county. We gather with them once per month as well as meet with them privately to begin working together to plant churches in San Diego and Tijuana. We do joint conference with them and also gather together to pray and support about 35 other pastors throughout San Diego once per month.

We are planning to launch our school called The Porterbrook Institute, which will be a church planting center in September with a two year curriculum and students who will imbed themselves in Kaleo and serve as interns and learn about church planting and missional living. This is in partnership with the Crowded House in Sheffield, UK and Soma Communities in Tacoma, WA.

We host about 2-3 conferences a year in San Diego which focus on church planting, worldview, missiology, theology, and other subjects. Our next conference is coming up in May and will be an Acts 29 conference where Mark Driscoll and the entire board for Acts 29 will come down and speak. It will be a boot camp for potential planters, where we'll assess teams who want to plant churches and desire to become part of our network nationally. We've planted about 125 churches in the last seven years and we'll be on track to hit 200 plus this year. Our goal is to plant 1,000 churches in the next five years and we're on pace to do that as the network grows.

I also sit on the Acts 29 International board where we travel around the world and teach on church planting and host conferences and boot camps to help potential planters to plant multiplying churches. We have planted, with our partnerships, about 200 churches in India, Africa, Pakistan, and The Balkan States. And we are developing a base of operations in the UK so that we can plant through England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, etc. I'm flying over in June to put on a conference in London and also to teach at the Welsh Evangelical School of Theology with Steve Timmis who wrote The Total Church. I've gone to India and South African the last couple of years to help teach and train church planters as well.

We also tithe 10% of our general giving towards church planting efforts (conferences, resources, speakers, training, traveling, local and international assistance). We support a number of pastors and orphans through Kaleo internationally as well. You can see Fox for a list of the orphans we need to help as well as the pastors that need support.

Of course, much more than this is going on but I wanted to give the bigger overview of what we're doing to be actively working our plan of starting in San Diego and working out to the uttermost parts of the world. The more disciples we make, the more churches we'll plant and the more resources we'll have to assist in larger and larger ways.

There are a number of initiatives locally, nationally and internationally that we could begin and contribute towards immediately when we have more resources to do so.

This doesn't include other boards we're on and ministries we're part of. I want to simply encourage you that though our church is not in the thousands, the reach of your generosity and labors spreads to places in third world countries that you could only dream of. By God's grace, Kaleo has been given tremendous favor and open doors to speak into and lovingly assist a large number of churches throughout our city, nation, and world. This is not owing to anything we bring by our own strength, but simply God's good hand upon us for His good work.

It is easy to look at what we're doing and our needs and get overwhelmed. I'm sure with the wall being in ruins for 141 years and perhaps even some failed efforts prior to Nehemiah's arrival, this group was probably overwhelmed as well. But the beauty of this effort is found in the incredible cooperation of the family of God's people who came together under the same banner of God's glory as we're calling you to today.

VII. Everyone at Work

We're calling every person that considers Kaleo their home to be actively involved in being discipled and discipling others. This means that our work is to equip you and prepare you to do the actual work of the church. We are to help you lead and serve each other and this great city. However, most churches have this turned upside-down. The church today looks like a football game. 65,000 spectators sit in the stands cheering or booing and are in need of some serious exercise, while the twenty-two men on the field badly need a rest.

God loves to work through regular people. He chooses to work through Nehemiah and everyday people. He could have sent His angels to come and complete the work in mere moments. He could have spoken a new city into existence. However, He chooses to engage and involve us in His work. I love this!

Why would God do this? Simple, He loves His people. God takes great joy in the work of His hands and He wants us to share in His joy by including us in what He's doing. We need to remember that God is our Father and when we labor with our dad it's not only because we enjoy going to work with Him, but we also learn about Him when we work under His care. We learn something about His heart and passion and share in His joy.

For example: I love my daughter and have decided to start taking her to work with me on Thursdays at the office. Thursday is my study day, so she brings a book and reads across from my desk as I read and study myself. Then, we go for a walk around Old Town and talk. This last Thursday I took her to Pizza Bella where we had a chance to talk to Mario about the difference between grace and religion. Then, we stopped by a place that sells plants and met a man named Christian who helped Madison pick out a plant for her mom and as we spoke I mentioned that we'd be stopping by often to say "hi." As we were walking back to the office we met a homeless woman by the name of Connie who needed some help so Madison and I stopped to help and she told us it was her 54th birthday. We asked if she was usually around Old Town and she said she was and so Madison and I decided we were going to invite her to our missional community for dinner and pick her up the next time we saw her.

Now, I tell you this only because as we were walking home, my little girl said, "Daddy, that was really sweet of you to help Connie." As we walked along, doing everyday stuff, she got to see my heart and learn about me. Of course, she's learning about me all the time. But for a reason, when she comes with me somewhere there is a sense where she's watching more carefully what I'm doing.

This is what God is doing with the Israelites and it's what He's doing with us. He's inviting us to work with Him so we can see Him working, learn about Him and share in His joy by being about His mission. He loves to work through people, not because He has to but because He is our Father and loves us.

All Work is Holy

Do hanging doors and doing masonry sound like ministry? Not really. Most people think ministry is nothing more than prayer or reading the Bible, or teaching people to do the same. But these people are doing regular work, and this work is set aside for the Lord.

For us, any work we do if it is done for the Lord is holy. They had a specific task in mind, but this task was securing the walls and gates so God's people could worship freely and return. They had a specific task and God saw fit to include their work and remember them through keeping their names in His word which will carry on through eternity.

There is a misunderstanding that the only real work is "spiritual" work. What is that? I'm not even sure so I must stink at it. All our work, if done for God's glory, is spiritual. There is no varsity/junior varsity. Every one of you here is in full-time ministry as ministers of the Gospel. You simply need to be deputized and set free to see what you do as intensely God-glorifying.

If you're serving, building, leading, teaching, programming, surveying, reading, writing, lifting, digging, cleaning, or restoring anything for anyone you're doing it for the Lord. The key is to own that as more than just a nice idea and actually begin living that way by loving God so much you want to see Him shown off through your labor.

Old Stones

In chapter 4 verse 2, those who oppose the work do so by saying, "Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?"

Some of you here this morning are old stones. You've been around a while and because you've been toppled a few times, perhaps you've forgotten how important your role is. Some of you have felt you've been under a heap of rubbish for a while, and some of you feel burned. Some of you have been sitting so long that dirt and weeds have starting growing on you.

But I want to remind you why you were made. You were made to be part of this great wall of God's House. You were shaped and created to fit in with other stones. It may take some cleaning and chiseling to remove the hurt, pride and fear, but we all are being chipped away by God's good grace.

You've seen many seasons and we need you to take your place in this beautiful wall.

Living Stones

1 Peter 2:4-9: "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."

Did you hear that? You are living stones being built up into this spiritual house. To be a holy priesthood to give ourselves away as spiritual sacrifices. We are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation for a purpose!

So that we might proclaim His excellencies, His Gospel, and call others out of darkness, despair, loneliness, guilt and shame into his marvelous light!

VIII. Resistance to God's Mission

Look at the pride of the Tokoan nobles. They had no intention of dirtying their hands. Their citizens worked hard and did more than their share as they took on two portions of the wall instead of one.

But the nobles refused to put their shoulders into it. It was pride that kept them from the work. They were ‘stiff-necked' and refused to be put to work. They thought it was below their dignity to engage in this kind of work.

Pride is such an ugly sin. It is a cruel enemy. It inflates our view of ourselves and causes us to look down on others. It is the way we get our sense of being "ok" by looking at others and feeling we're superior to them.

What causes us to not stoop down and put our shoulders into the work?

    Apathy-used to things being broken
    The job is too big
    Don't like the work or project
    Would do it differently
    Laziness
    Fear
    Critical
    Insecurity (I can't do anything)
    Control
    Don't feel qualified
    Inconvenient

The underlying issue is really a lack of love. It's a lack of love for God and His glory, and a lack of love for Jesus' work (He who loves me will keep my commandments). It's a lack of true believe that Jesus did all the work for you and now you can be free from all of this!

Gospel

Why do we refuse to "stoop down?" We all think of ourselves as nobility. In other words, we have a high view of ourselves and this causes us to look down on others. It creates a dynamic of criticism and judgmentalism towards others so that we feel good about our position. Our lack of humility is due to the fact that we want to run our life. Like Lucifer, we want a throne next to His in sinful self-exaltation.

The truly Noble One left his place of privilege and power to "stoop down" to us. He came and stripped Himself so that He could get His hands dirty to build. We're told He came to build the household of God by gathering together everyone willing to acknowledge they've failed to build a righteousness as well as our lives.

He put His shoulders into the work by being for us what we could not be, holy and righteous. His strong arms, given to the task of laboring unto the Lord, were pulled open and nailed to a piece of wood. His strong legs we're beaten and weakened, His feet were nailed through with a spike, and His final cry was "It is finished!"

Now, because He accomplished what He came for and was able to say, "It is finished," we are able to say, "Since the work of securing righteousness is finished, our work can now begin!"

When the work was complete, a party would be thrown! So too, when Jesus returns to finish His work of building us into His house, a great feast will be thrown in His honor to celebrate our work with Him!

Passages for group discussion:

1 Peter 2:4-9: "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."

Romans 12:3-8: "For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness."

1 Corinthians 12:12-25: "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you,' nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.' 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another."

Ephesians 2:14-22: "For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit."

Ephesians 4:11-16: "And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love."