A Spiritual Priesthood

So on our last visit to 1 Peter, we talked about how God, as we come to Him and make ourselves available to Him

Is building a house

A Temple for Him to abide in.

And to build this Temple, He is using the choicest of stone. The best quality of material that He can find

He is using us!

Is using us like His own personal building blocks.

Little building blocks that reflect His image

Little building blocks that are alive, special and chosen

He has chosen you, ___________

And You_______________

He’s building a Temple. A house for Him to live in

And today we are going to talk about some things that are happening in this Temple

1 Peter 2:9-12 “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. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

You are a spiritual Priesthood

We are going to go back to school for a bit this morning and have a history lesson

Let’s go back to the

The Medieval Period

Also known as “The Dark Ages” or “The Middle Ages”

It was a period of time that began shortly after 400 A.D

And it lasted for over 1000 years until the Protestant Reformation began shortly after 1500

The Middle ages began with the defeat of the Roman civilization

Now, life in the Roman empire was pretty cut and dried as I understand it

The Romans, as you know, were a very organized society.

You knew who was in charge

They had one centralized government

That was, the Emperor in Rome

All his governors and rulers under him answered back to the Emperor

Life was very organized and the Romans did much to improve things like

Infrastructure (roads and so forth)

And education

But long about 470 A.D. or so, Roman government and society was becoming weak from corruption and scandal and they were under constant attack from other tribes and countries

And they were expending more money and manpower than they could afford trying to defend their empire

And ultimately, they were defeated by the Visigoths, a people from what now is Europe. A Germanic people

And not only did the Roman government collapse, but society also collapsed.

But as society collapsed, the Church became more and more powerful

And during the middle ages, the Church began to dominate people’s lives

They recognized Jesus as Lord of the Church

But they had a pope that was God’s representative on this earth

And they had a system of cardinals and priests that imparted the grace of God into the sacraments of the church

And they said that the common people were not equipped or privileged to understand Scripture and to understand the will of God for their lives

It was up to the CHURCH to tell people what God wanted them to do and how God wanted them to live

And in this way, they kept the people ignorant and spiritually poor

And for centuries, the Church became more and more powerful, and more and more corrupt

They swindled people into buying “indulgences”

Paying money to have their sins either partially or fully forgiven

And more and more, people were kept away from having personal access to God through Jesus Christ

But then the Protestant Reformation began to take place when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Thesis to the door of Wittenburg Castle

And the main thing that Martin Luther, and other like him, had an issue with was the power that the church had claimed for itself

And Martin Luther said, “No, the church has it wrong. Access to God is not reserved for the pope and his cardinals and priests. That is against what Scripture teaches

the common people should be able to read Scripture. They should be able to understand the will of God.

They also have access to God’s grace through Jesus Christ as

They should be able to minister to others through prayer and scripture.

This should not be reserved only for the priests in the high church!

This is the Scriptural way!”

And out of his work and the work of many other came this concept of

THE PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS

Martin Luther basically said, “Get the priests out the way. Get the corruption out of the way. Stop making people pay money to have their sins forgiven

Let anyone who wills come into the presence of God through Jesus Christ, serving Him, and leading others into the grace that they themselves have experienced

And they doubtless referred to passages like ours today in 1 Peter where we read that YOU are a royal priesthood

Peter is clear about this. That not only are you living stones that God is using to build up a spiritual house, or temple,

But that inside that Temple are priests.

And YOU are those priests

You are living stones that God is using to build His Temple, and you are the priests serving inside the Temple

In my quiet time, I’m reading in Exodus

And I’m in the part where God is giving the instructions for how the people are to worship Him

He gives detailed instructions for how to build the tabernacle and all of the things inside the tabernacle: the Ark, the candlesticks, the table and so forth

And then God also gives clear and detailed instructions for those who were to serve as priests inside the tabernacle

These priests were to come from the tribe of Levi

And the first priests were Aaron and his sons.

Aaron was the high priest

And his sons were priests under him

And what was their job?

It was their job to lead the people in the worship of God

They were to be holy and set apart from “normal lives” that other people led

They had specific things that they were allowed to do and were not allowed to do

They had rules about how they could cut their hair

They had rules about the kind of clothes that they could wear or what they were allowed to do to their clothes

They had rules about the kind of women that they were to marry

They weren’t allowed to intentionally cut or deform their bodies in any way

Why? Because God said, they work in the sanctuary (the dwelling place) of God. They handle the sacrifices.

They must not do anything to profane what God has declared to be holy.

They must not treat the holy things with contempt or treat them casually and thoughtlessly

in a way that would defile them or in a way that does not recognize their sacredness

So, the priesthood was a very special calling that only a select few could enter into

This is how the Jewish people understood the priesthood.

But if they knew their OT, they also knew that God had called the entire nation of Israel, “A Nation of Priests”

For example, Exodus 19:6 “6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.””

And Peter picks up on this theme

Chosen race

Race: A group of people sharing common ancestory

They have similar physical characteristics

as far as their build

skin color

shape of their faces and eyes, and so forth

Peter says, YOU are a CHOSEN race

And the Jews who are reading this might be thinking, “You got it, Peter! Yes we are!”

Again, Peter is using the birth analogy here

But he’s not talking about a physical heritage through birth

You have received the new birth.

And in experiencing the new birth, you have a common Father: God

And because you have the same Father, you all have things in common

His Spirit imparted to you means that you have the characteristics that your Father has

And it’s like a brand new race emerging. It’s not the Jewish race or the Gentile race anymore

It is a new race united together in Christ

And God has chosen YOU.

I believe that God did choose the Jewish race as His people

And I believe that He still desires to bless them

But now, there is a new race of people comprised of both Jews and Gentiles

People of many nations and tribes and tongues and skin color

United together in through faith in Christ

And we here at Fairview are privileged to be part of that race

We are not those described in verse 8 who stumble over Jesus because of our unbelief.

At least, I pray that we aren’t

Rather, we are those who walk together in faith, abiding in Christ Jesus

We are a chosen race

We are a Royal Priesthood

In the OT, we read about God establishing first the priestly order, and then much later, He established the kingly line when Saul became king

And these two orders, or “jobs” (if you want to call them that) did not mix

Kings did not work in the tabernacle, or the temple, and neither did priests rule the country

They had separate and distinct roles

But Peter calls his listeners, and us, a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD.

We are both royalty AND anointed as priests

Royalty—by being born again into a living hope

Another place, this is pictured as adoption into the family of God

We are royalty because we have been given a new birth, a new beginning

And because we have been received into the Family of God, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords

And we are Priests, because God has chosen us and anointed us to serve in HIs presence

Peter goes on with his description

He says, you are a holy nation, a people for His own possession

This is another way repeating and emphasizing what he has just said that you are a chosen race and a royal priesthood

And lest this escape the attention of his readers (I’m wondering, how could it)

He reminds them of where they have come from by referring to a passage from Hosea 2:23 “23 and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’ ””

No Mercy was the name of Hosea’s daughter

Not My People was the name of Hosea’s son (Hosea 1:6-9)

Peter says, 1 Peter 2:10 “10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

I am amazed at Peter.

We often think of him as being an unlearned fisherman

But this guy knows his OT!

And he uses it exactly has it should be used: to point toward Jesus

So You are chosen and holy: a royal priesthood

What does that mean?

We serve daily in the presence of God

Just as the OT priests got up each morning and went into the sanctuary of God (tabernacle and temple)

And served in the presence of God

So, too, we daily serve in the presence of God

Not just a Sunday thing, but a daily thing

As we talked about often in our study of the Gospel of John

We are to abide in Christ. And Christ is to abide in us

Every area of our life is to flow out of this daily abiding in His presence

I’m sure the priests had their mundane tasks.

Someone had to keep the worship area clean and tidy

To replace the shewbread, and clean up the blood and mess from the sacrifices

But even in their mundane tasks, they served in the presence of God and had to be careful of their conduct and dress and every area of their life

And so it is with us

Whether it is eating or sleeping, or going to work or cleaning the house

Whether it is going overseas as a missionary, whether it is serving the church as a janitor or trustee, or an elder, or bible study leader, or cooking meals, (the list could go on)

You are serving in the presence of God

And our conduct should be that which points all those around us to God

1 Peter 2:11-12 “11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

abstain from the passions of the flesh

Not just overeating or sexual sins

They are all those things which put the focus on me

Selfishness, slander, gossip, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness

Abstain from these things

Instead, keep your conduct honorable

The Greek word for “honorable” means beautiful and good

Why? So that even though they may slander you or mock you, they will ultimately be pointed to God

and Give Him glory

Being a priest means that we don’t need a system of spiritual priests or pastors to approach the throne of God

We only need ONE mediator: Jesus Christ

1 Timothy 2:5 “5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,”

Hebrew 4:16 “16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

As a royal priest, you have free access into the very throne room of God, the holy of holies, through Christ Jesus

The high priest was the ONLY one who could enter the holy of holies

And that was only once a year

And it was through great ceremony and ritual and with much fear

In the dark ages, folks were kept away by corrupt priests

In some of our conservative traditions or Amish traditions spiritual hunger has been squashed by accusations of

Rebellion, or unwillingness to listen to church leaders

In some communities, folks aren’t encouraged to read their Bibles

In many communities, you are seen as rebellious if you start asking too many questions

And I believe sadly, some of our conservative communities don’t look very different from the Medieval Church

But Hebrews says, “Let us come boldly to the throne of grace. That is where you will find mercy and grace

That which we all need so very much

We don’t come carelessly or unthinkingly.

But we do come boldly through the work that Jesus Christ has done

Being a priest also means that you don’t need a system of priests and church leaders to hear from God

Being a priest means that each of us should be led by the Holy Spirit. Daily and constantly

Now, am I saying that church and pastors and fellow believers are not important?

No! I’m not saying that

But your pastors and elders and fellow believers stand along side of you as those who are also being led by the Holy Spirit

We come together in need of grace

We need each other greatly!

But mothers and fathers, you serve as priests in your household

You cultivate your relationship with Him. learning to hear from the Lord

and then you lead your children and each other to the Lord

You don’t wait for the pastor or the church leaders to enforce what the Holy Spirit is teaching you about what it means to live lives that are holy and set apart

But each one of us is a priest in our sphere of influence which means that we are hearing from him and know what God requires of us

Being a priest means that we offer sacrifices

Not cows and bulls and doves and grain like the priests used to do

But now we offer spiritual sacrifices

1 Peter 2:5 “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.”

What are those sacrifices? Well here are some of them

Rom. 12 verse 1 says that we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice

whatever you do, whether you eat or drink or drive truck or clean a house, do it as an act of service to God

Praise and Thanks

Hebrews 13:15 describes us offering up sacrifices of praise and thanks to God

It is the “fruit of our lips” that we offering. The Jews used to offer the fruit of the land as sacrifices. But in this case, it is what comes out of our mouths

Acts of love and giving

In Phil 4:18, Paul describes the gifts of support that the Philippian church sent as a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God

Also in Heb. 13 we are reminded to not neglect doing good “for with such sacrifices, God is well pleased”

Church, remember this

You are a ROYAL PRIEST. Go out there, and live this. Be a priest

Walk in His presence. Be holy.

And let’s lead others to him

All of this for the praise of His glory!