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By Pastor Glenn Pease
In the middle 1800's Henry Comstock staked his claim and dug until he found gold.
He was getting some, but knew there had to be more.
He was convinced there was a mother load there somewhere, and he kept digging.
Weeks turned to months, and months to years, and finally he gave up in 1859 when he was offered $11,000 for his claim.
The new owner dug just a few feet deeper and struck that mother load.
The Comstock mine produced 340 million in gold.
So often in life we stop digging too soon, and miss the mother load of blessings God has for us.
That is why Paul wrote in Gal.
6:9, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
After Christmas is over it is easy to give up the Christmas spirit, and put wonder and praise on the back burner for another year.
When we stop digging for the wonder that makes us worship, and the presents that makes us praise, we stop short of the mother load, and fail to get all the gold God wants to give us.
Mary Lacyin her book A Woman Wants God tells of asking her new neighbor if they were going to her mother's home for Christmas.
"Oh, no," she said, "My husband has to work on Christmas day, so we will stay right here."
"But doesn't that nylon plant close down even for Christmas," she asked.
"No, they can't," her neighbor replied.
"Once the flow of liquid nylon begins to move through the large pipes it would be disaster to stop it.
It would cool and harden, clogging and ruining the machinery.
They must keep the nylon flowing even on Christmas day, for it is a continuous process."
That is also the description of Christian praise.
It is not something you can shut down, for it is also a continuous process.
It, of course, does not stop for Christmas, but it is to be a continuous process that does not stop for non-holidays and week days either.
We have a tendency to stop and give up praising God, and thereby robbing ourselves of the mother load of blessings God has for those who learn that praise is a continuous process.
The main reason we stop short is because we never really grasp the Biblical teaching that every believer is a priest whose job it is to continually offer a sacrifice of praise.
This text in Heb.
13:15 that tells us this, is in direct opposition to the common concepts that only a special class of people can be priests, and that sacrifice is no longer necessary, and that praise should be limited to certain days and places.
Hidden within this verse is a mother load of golden truth that can make each of us rich if we are willing to keep digging until we strike it.
I am convinced that the key to a happy New Year, and the key to a happy new forever lies in our digging out of this verse all that it contains.
This verse is a shaft to a mine that runs all through the Bible, and as we dig deeper and deeper I can assure you that if you hold on to what we dig up you'll be rich in the way God wants you to be rich in the days ahead.
This verse opens up many veins of treasure concerning praise.
We see here:
THE PATHWAY TO PRAISE-through Jesus.
THE PRIESTS OF PRAISE-let us.
THE PERSON OF PRAISE-God.
THE PERPETUALNESS OF PRAISE-continually.
THE PRICE OF PRAISE-offer a sacrifice.
THE PURPOSE OF PRAISE-confess His name and please God.
These and many other aspects of this subject will be our focus in the coming weeks.
Since it is a subject that most of us have not studied in any depth, we are going to start our exploration of this gold mine of Biblical truth by focusing on our duty as Christians to be perpetually offering to God the sacrifice of praise.
Therefore, the first shaft we will decend will be called-
I. THE PRIESTHOOD OF PRAISE.
Martin Luther brought it to life; the Baptist picked it up as one of their foundation principles, and most other denominations acknowledge it as a basic Biblical truth.
It is the priesthood of all believers.
The Old Testament system of priests and sacrifices has been made obsolete.
Sacrifice was done away with by the once for all sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
The idea of a special class of people who alone could intercede and offer sacrifice is eliminated, for the curtain in the temple was rent from top to bottom, when Jesus died on the cross, allowing all to come into the presence of God.
There is neither male or female, Jew nor Gentile in Christ, for all are equally free to come into the very holy of holies to offer to God the sacrifice of praise.
No longer is there a Gentile part of the temple.
No longer is there a female area beyond which women could not go.
No longer is there a division of lay people and clergy where the clergy could go into the presence of God, but not the lay people.
All of the old system is changed, and now, in Christ, all believers are equal, and have full access to the presence of God.
Freedom of worship is what Jesus made universal by His sacrifice.
Now all Christians have the right and the privilege of offering to God the sacrifice of praise.
The primary purpose of our existence is to be people of praise, and to do those things in life that produce praise to God.
That is the whole point of God giving man gifts.
Every gift we have has one goal, and that is to produce praise.
The purpose of all creativity is to produce praise.
The beauty of music, art, literature, science, and all of life is to lead us and others to praise God.
Thank God for all which kindles love and appreciation for the Author of life.
Why do you think Paul wrote in Phil.
4:8, "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things."
It is because Paul knows the very essence of life is in praising God, and the more you focus on the things to praise God for the more you will fullfill your purpose for being.
Praise is no sideline.
It is the job of the believer.
It is the duty of the priests to offer praise perpetually, and this can be hard to do if you take your eyes off the lovely and praiseworthy, and begin to focus on the evil and ugliness of a fallen world.
You cannot escape this reality, and neither could Paul, but your job as a priest is to always look beyond it to that which leads to praise.
George Herbert wrote, "Of all thy creatures both in sea and land only to man thou hast made known thy ways and put the penne alone into His hand and made Him secretarie to thy praise."
As secretary of praise it is our job description to take notes of all there is to offer praise to God about, and encourage others to do the same, and live a life of praise without ceasing.
The point we need to grasp is that this duty of praising God perpetually is the duty of every Christian.
It is not a specialized task like teaching or preaching, or playing an instrument.
All of the gifts of the Spirit, and all talents are specialized ministries which are limited to those who have the gifts and talents.
The members of the body who do not have these things cannot perform the tasks of those who do.
The eye cannot hear, and the ear cannot see.
The hand cannot smell, and the nose cannot lift, and on and on we can see the many things that are specialized tasks for people who can do them.
Offering the sacrifice of praise is not one of these specialized tasks.
It is the duty of every believer because every believer is a priest, and every believer has a duty to offer sacrifice, and the only acceptable sacrifice is the sacrifice of lip and life, which is praise to God.
This is what all parts of the body have in common.
It is the basis for unity.
Gifts give us variety in the body, and praise gives us unity.
Since many of you may not have known that you were priests, because you do not recall your ordination into priesthood, it will be our first task to help you see that this is your vocation in the body of Christ.
The more you see who you are as a priest who leads worship in the temple of the Holy Spirit, which is your own body and life, the more you will be a true worshiper in spirit and in truth, which Jesus says, the Father is ever looking for.
Christian worship is not a matter of professionals doing something while the rest of the people watch.
Christian worship is a matter of participation by every person in the congregation.
We need to get the true picture that Kierkegaard gave of the church at worship.
God is the audience; the congregation are the actors or worshipers, and the pastor, song leader, organist, pianist, and choir, are the promoters whose job it is to motivate you to praise God.
The leaders of worship are to be aids to your worship.
You hear a song and you praise God for its beauty and its truth.
You hear an insight into God's revelation, and you thank God for it and praise Him for His Word.
The essenes of all we do as leaders is to get you, the worshiper, to praise God, for that is your job as priests.
If you do not praise God, you have failed to worship, for that is the essence of worship.
If we learn this, every service will become more meaningful, for you will not just be passive spectators, but active participators in worship.
If the promoters are so poor that nothing they do or say motivates you to praise God, then do it on your own.
Think on those things that move you to praise God, for just because someone else does not do their job does not mean you have no obligation to do yours.
Your job is to continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise.
Now, lest you think this is an isolated verse, let me share with you that this is the clear teaching of Peter the leader of the 12 Apostles.
If anyone would want to suppress the idea of the priesthood of all believers, and keep this job in the hands of the professionals, it would be Peter.
But Peter throws the door open to all in I Pet.
2:9.
"But 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.
Peter belonged to the most exclusive Christian group ever to exist-the 12 Apostles.
But he knew that the 12 had no corner on the priesthood.
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