Baptist Distinctive's (3)
Notes
Transcript
Handout
B - Biblical Authority
A - Autonomy of the Church
P - Priesthood of the Believer
T - Two Offices (Pastor and Deacon)
I - Individual Soul Liberty
S - Saved and Baptized Church Membership
T - Two Church Ordinances (Baptism and Communion)
S - Seperation
P-Priesthood of The Believer
P-Priesthood of The Believer
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
What Is the Priesthood of Believers? What Is the Priesthood of Believers?
Toward the conclusion of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, the hero, Jean Valjean, is lying in bed as he slowly slips into death, surrounded by his “daughter,” Cosette; her husband, Marius; and a doctor. An elderly woman who has been viewing this scene through a half-closed door is so moved by the sight that she can no longer contain her religious zeal and cries out to Valjean, “Do you want a priest?” He raises his arm and points above his head, where you would have thought he saw someone, and answers, “I have one.”
Christian readers immediately comprehend the religious significance of this closing vignette from Hugo’s masterpiece—although from different perspectives. To a Roman Catholic it portrays a dying man’s ill-advised refusal of “last rites” by a priest. To a Protestant it depicts the conviction that the priestly ministry of Christ is sufficient and needs no earthly supplement, and thus illustrates the importance of the Reformation doctrine, the “priesthood of all believers.”
Before we can really look at our priesthood, that treasured doctrine of the priesthood of the believer, which has rich implications for all believers, including whether or not we need an earthly priest for confessing our sins or at death.
We need to look at the fundamental doctrine of the priesthood of Christ which all implications of our beliefs hinge on.
Lets look first at the
Priesthood of Christ
Priesthood of Christ
We will see how He executed the office of a priest. Then we will see the implications of His office as a priest.
First thing that we want to look at is
The Execution of His Office
The Execution of His Office
Christ executed the office of a priest by offering himself up once as a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice, and to reconcile us back to God and is now making continual intersession for us.
This is done by two ways.
Intersession by Humiliation
Intersession by Humiliation
By this I mean what He did for us on the cross.
When Christ offered up himself on the cross for sinners, he fulfilled the priestly ministry and sacrificial system that God instituted in the Old Testament.
Simply put, a priest is “one who brings men near to God, who leads them into the presence of God.” The priest “brought” men into God’s presence because he entered the holy place as the representative of the people.
Christ was able to do this because he became man Heb.2:17
Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Preeminent among the sacrifices and feasts was the annual Day of Atonement when the high priest exercised his most sobering and privileged role.
By entering the Holiest of Holies (or “Most Holy Place”) Christ fulfilled the duty of high priest .
Christ fulfilled other sacrificial rites and ceremonies, but the book of Hebrews focuses particularly upon the Day of Atonement explaining the significance of Christ’s mediation.
On the Day of Atonement the high priest slaughtered sacrificial animals as sin offerings outside the sanctuary—
a bull for him and his family, and later the first of two goats for Israel.
Next he took some of the blood from each of the animals into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled the blood onto the mercy seat to atone for the sin of all the people.
Lastly, the high priest confessed the sins of Israel as he laid his hands on the second goat, which was released into the wilderness bearing the iniquities of Israel.
Christ fulfills this feast and other sacrifices as both the priest who ministers and as the sacrifice that is offered.
First, Christ administers the sacrifice as a priest
First, Christ administers the sacrifice as a priest
—he is the one who offered the sacrifice (Gal. 2:20; Heb. 7:27; 9:14).
He was not forced to give himself, but he humbled himself and laid down his life willingly out of love for his church (John 10:18; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 5:2, 25; Phil. 2:8).
He said, “I lay down my life.… No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself” (John 10:17–18).
Second, Christ is the sacrificial offering
Second, Christ is the sacrificial offering
—the unblemished Lamb who bore the curse of sin for the people that he has redeemed.
In particular, it is his blood that atones for the forgiveness of sin, because “without shedding of blood there is no remission ”
(Heb. 9:22).
And it is his blood that, as propitiation, covers the offense of sin and swallows up the wrath of God.
Intersession by exaltation
Intersession by exaltation
By this I mean his intercession at the throne of Grace
After Christ made offering for sins, he rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Majesty on high.
In his ascension Christ passed through the heavens and entered behind the veil
Heb. 4:14
Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Just like the sacrificial animals on the Day of Atonement, Christ also was sacrificed “outside the sanctuary,” that is, outside heaven, which is the true sanctuary.
But now in his exaltation Christ brings the blood of the sacrifice into the inner sanctuary and opens the veil of the heavenly Holiest of Holies.
Just as the veil of the earthly temple was torn from top to bottom when Christ was sacrificed upon the cross, so now the Most Holy Place in heaven has been opened for us as Christ has entered behind the veil.
Christ has entered the sanctuary of heaven for us, to obtain access for us to the throne of grace in the immediate presence of God.
Through Christ then, every Christian having therefore boldness can enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Heb. 10:19-20
Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
Christ appears before the Father “being made like unto us” to actively continue his priestly ministry.
He sits at the right hand of the Father as our advocate and representative,
constantly testifying to the verdict won by his death and resurrection (1 John 2:1).
Christ can plead the church’s case in the court of heaven and answer all accusations that are brought against her.
And as the church prays to her great High Priest, she prays to one who sympathizes with our weaknesses,
because he too was tempted but is without sin (Heb. 4:15–16).
Christ appears at the right hand of the Majesty, fully equipped for his priestly ministry by right of his two natures of humanity and divinity, and his two states of humiliation and exaltation.
As the infinite, eternal, and unchangeable God, who became flesh, Christ “is able to save [us] to the uttermost” because “he always lives to make intercession” for us (Heb. 7:25; Rom. 8:34).
That is to say, his priestly intercession in heaven endures in superlative glory and excellence.
The Implications of His Priesthood
The Implications of His Priesthood
Christ’s priestly ministry is perfection embodied as priest.
Christ’s priestly ministry is perfection embodied as priest.
It is utterly unique, unsurpassed and unending, and never in need of supplementation or succession.
It brings to an end the priestly order of Aaron, because Christ surpasses it in every way—according to the book of Hebrews, it is “better.”
Christ’s priestly ministry
guarantees a “better covenant,”
which is founded on “better promises”
and purifies with a “better sacrifice”
and blood that speaks a “better testament”;
and therefore we have a “better hope”
and long for a “better country”
with a “better possession”
and a “better resurrection.”
In this sense his ministry is comparatively more excellent than the priesthood of the old covenant.
Christ fulfilling the priesthood, eliminates the need for another priesthood.
The New Testament does not teach, nor even mention, any continuing earthly priesthood.
Those who minister the Word of God and offer daily living sacrifices are referred to as “ambassadors” (2 Cor. 5:20), “stewards” (1 Cor. 4:1), “ministers” (Eph. 3:7), “servants” (1 Cor. 3:5), or “evangelists,” “shepherds,” and “teachers” (Eph. 4:11), but never as “priests.”
Christ’s priestly ministry is perfection embodied as the Sacrifice
Christ’s priestly ministry is perfection embodied as the Sacrifice
The second implication of Christ’s priestly ministry has to do with the perfection of his sacrifice.
The biblical phrase “once for all” is used to underline the superiority of Christ’s priestly ministry in two ways.
First, it describes how Christ does not need to minister repeatedly (for himself or others) like the priests of old (Heb. 7:27; 9:26).
But second, Christ’s sacrificial death is “once for all” due to the unsurpassed value of his precious blood.
The priests of Israel ministered with the blood of goats and calves, but Christ ministers neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood. Heb. 9:12
Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Since it is Christ himself who is sacrificed for us, we are sanctified “once for all” (Heb. 10:10).
He has thoroughly put away the condemning power of sin by the “sacrifice of himself” (Heb. 9:26).
Through the perfection of his one-time sacrifice, Christ has perfected for all time those for whom he died.
It follows then that this sacrifice does not need to be supplemented.
In light of the all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ,
who could demand a greater payment or punishment?
Who could ask for a more pure sacrifice?
Who can bring any charge against us?
Who can condemn?
In the end it does not matter whether one considers the priestly ministry of Christ from the perspective of his office or from the perspective of his sacrifice; they are inextricably bound together. As John Owen stated, “The priest and the sacrifice under the New Testament are one and the same: and therefore they who make themselves priests must also make themselves Christs, or get another sacrifice of their own.”
The Priesthood of Believers
The Priesthood of Believers
What does the Bible teach us regarding the Priesthood of the believers?
We are to..
Reflect the Holiness of Our Great High Priest
Reflect the Holiness of Our Great High Priest
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
This means that our lives should be lived as though we were priests in a temple.
It is indeed a privilege to serve as a priest. No man in Israel could serve at the altar, or enter the tabernacle or temple holy places, except those born into the tribe of Levi and consecrated to God for service. Each priest and Levite had different ministries to perform, yet they were together under the high priest, serving to glorify God. As God’s priests today, we must work together at the direction of our Great High Priest. Each ministry that we perform for His glory is a service to God.
Offer Spiritual Sacrifices
Offer Spiritual Sacrifices
Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Peter mentioned especially the privilege of offering “spiritual sacrifices.”
Christians today do not bring animal sacrifices as did the Old Testament worshipers; but we do have our own sacrifices to present to God.
We ought to give our bodies to Him as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1–2),
as well as the praise of our lips (Heb. 13:15)
and the good works we do for others (Heb. 13:16).
The money and other material things we share with others in God’s service is also a spiritual sacrifice (Phil. 4:10–20).
We offer these sacrifices through Jesus Christ, for only then are they acceptable with God.
If we do any of this for our own pleasure or glory, then it will not be accepted as a spiritual sacrifice.
Represent God before all Men
Represent God before all Men
Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
God wanted His people Israel to become “a kingdom of priests” (Ex. 19:6), a spiritual influence for godliness; but Israel failed Him.
Instead of being a positive influence on the godless nations around them, Israel imitated those nations and adopted their practices.
God had to discipline His people many times for their idolatry, but they still persisted in sin.
Today, Israel has no temple or priesthood.
It is important that we, as God’s priests, maintain our separated position in this world.
We must not be isolated, because the world needs our influence and witness;
but we must not permit the world to infect us or change us.
Separation is not isolation; it is contact without contamination.
The fact that each individual believer can go to God personally and offer spiritual sacrifices should not encourage selfishness or “individualism” on our part. We are priests together, serving the same High Priest, ministering in the same spiritual temple.
The fact that there is but one High Priest and heavenly Mediator indicates unity among the people of God.
Several social scientists have written books dealing with what they call the “me complex” in modern society.
The emphasis today is on taking care of yourself and forgetting about others.
This same attitude has crept into the church, as I see it.
Too much modern church music centers on the individual and ignores the fellowship of the church.
Many books and sermons focus on personal experience to the neglect of ministry to the whole body. I realize that the individual must care for himself if he is to help others, but there must be balance.