Work of Priests pt .2 -- Teaching

Intro

Sometimes it happens to me that as I begin to undertake the task of study, my brain begins to realize the massive density of the topic at hand, the numerous implications, or the many routes possible to take. That happened to me as I began to sit down and write this sermon. I had already known what passages I was going to talk about, what I wanted to say, but then I sat down and all the possibilities opened up. I struggle sometimes with remembering I don’t have to, and in fact can’t, fully cover every aspect of a topic in one sermon. Even if I had two hours to talk and many more hours of study, I couldn’t adequately explain the whole of a topic. So, remembering that, I also remember that my job is to teach — and you don’t teach people well by giving them more than they can chew. So, I centered back to exactly that: Teaching. This is the second major duty of priests.

Remember, we are priests of God according to 1 Peter 2.5

1 Peter 2:5 CSB

5 you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

and 1 Peter 2.9

1 Peter 2:9 CSB

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

We are going to focus in on verse 9 a little bit this morning.

Proclaim His Works

Now, I believe it was last week as I talked about offering our bodies, our whole lives, as a thankful sacrifice to God to honor Him in everything we do. In that portion of our lesson, we talked about spiritual gifts.

Romans 12:6–8 CSB

6 According to the grace given to us, we have different gifts: If prophecy, use it according to the proportion of one’s faith; 7 if service, use it in service; if teaching, in teaching; 8 if exhorting, in exhortation; giving, with generosity; leading, with diligence; showing mercy, with cheerfulness.

You’ll notice that teaching is listed hear as being a spiritual gift. You may also remember as James says that not many should become teachers!

Naturally, then, perhaps you are thinking, “It’s not my gift, I should avoid teaching altogether!”

But this would be incorrect of us to assume. You see, we are given gifts, but we are to do more than what we are specifically gifted in. Mercy is also a gift of the Spirit, yet we are all to be merciful! Nor does James speak of the same thing I am referring to.

We are all to teach in the sense that we are to show God’s glory and “proclaim the praises” of God Who placed us in His wonderful light out of darkness!

I like the way the ASV says it better: 1 Pet. 2.9

1 Peter 2:9 ASV

9 But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

“Show forth the excellencies...”

1 Peter 2:9 RSV

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

“declare the wonderful deeds...”

Now, I show you three different ways of translating this portion of the passage to help us get a better feel for it’s meaning. Each of these is a good and fair way to translate this phrase!

The word translated as “show forth” or “proclaim” is a compound word that literally means something akin to “report out”.

We as God’s people are, among other things, a royal priesthood, so that we will “report out” the wonderful excellencies, virtues, wonderful deeds of our God!

Is it not teaching when we tell someone about the great works of God?

We teach about the Exodus of Israel, the mercy He took on them in captivity, the execution of the Seed-line promise which bore the Messiah; then also the judgments on nations as well and their purpose and how they relate to grace and mercy as well.

We teach about God when we proclaim what He has done for us personally!

See, just as the priests of the Old Testament expounded on the Law of God to the People, so we expound on Who our God is to the world around us.

Proclaim Truthfully

As we do that, we also have to know who our God is! We cannot go about, as do some even today, claiming to know God and proclaiming of Him what He never said or did! Listen to what God said through Malachi to the priests of his day — there are two major things which we must keep in mind when talking about God.

Malachi 2:4–7 CSB

4 Then you will know that I sent you this decree, so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says the Lord of Armies. 5 “My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave these to him; it called for reverence, and he revered me and stood in awe of my name. 6 True instruction was in his mouth, and nothing wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and integrity and turned many from iniquity. 7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should desire instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of Armies.

Reverence

When we talk about our God, we must always remember to be reverent as we do so. God, His commands, His character, His deeds, His heart — are all holy matters which deserve our hearts to be reverent.

We mustn’t be flippant as we speak about Him, but in awe of His greatness, as He gives us the grace to tell of how lovely He is!

Too often, I find that people make flippant comments about God in maybe an attempt to joke around, or without thinking perhaps about the thing they are saying thoroughly enough. Blasphemies flow like streams when we let our tongues get away with us in regard to our God — not that they could not be forgiven, but they must still be avoided!

Family, may we think highly enough of our Father, our Lord, and our Seal the Spirit, to think well before we speak about God that what we say comes from the right heart and is reverently befitting of Him. Alongside this, we must be sure to the best of our abilities that what we say of God and His commands is always TRUE.

Truth

As God says of His covenant with the priests, “True instruction was in his mouth,” and Mal. 2.7

Malachi 2:7 CSB

7 For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should desire instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of Armies.

Even if teaching is not your strong suit, I believe that our friends and family should be able to come to God’s people with their questions about God! Now, obviously we should never pretend to know things we don’t — and it’s okay to admit when you don’t know something. But we should alway be studying, learning, and prepared to answer what we can for people. That will never mean having all the answers, but we are made His priests as the Church so that we will proclaim how great God is!

How will we proclaim His excellencies, His virtues, His wonderful deeds if we ourselves are not familiar enough with them? How can we help people know who our God is if we are not close with Him?

You cannot take anyone any further than you have gone yourself.

So, let’s be in the Word and in Prayer and living in obedience to know Christ our Lord by grace through faith — then we will be learning, growing, and able to tell more and more of His wonderful greatness!

Complacency is something that never has a place in God’s Church. We must fight off that thought that says, “I can’t learn anymore, I’m not smart enough, I’m not able to remember, I’m not good enough,” or anything else — Whatever keeps you from growing in the Lord is NOT from Him!

Therefore, as we continue to learn what the truth is, we must also proclaim forth what is true about our God! He is worthy of this effort, He demands this effort, and to us that love Him it should be no hard thing to want to know Who He is and tell others about His awesomeness.

Inventory

In what manner are we proclaiming forth the awesomeness of our God? He has set us at this high station for this very purpose! Yes, we still must offer our Christians sacrifices to Him as we talked about last week — but we must also be sure that His truth is on our lips, being told to all people!

Acts 1:8 CSB

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Remember that there is no one from who we are free to withhold the Gospel of Christ. As far as I can see, proclaiming His excellent mercies is part of giving the Gospel.

However, proclaiming His excellencies to the Saints is also necessary! Why?

For encouragement and reminder of His mercy, grace, and power to save and destroy.

Sometimes we need to be reminded of the good things that we may take courage in Christ; sometimes we may need the harder things in order to repent and be convicted by the Spirit.

This week, my challenge is two-fold:

How well do we know God?

This week, begin adding onto your time in the Scriptures. Don’t be a 10 min./week in the Bible kind of person. But feed on the feast of God’s word!

How often are we proclaiming?

Get uncomfortable this week — tell two people about the excellencies of God as whatever their situation calls for. Be used by God through faith encourage or admonish as the situation needs. This is an act of love to the World and to the household of God.