Prophet, Priest & King

Prayer

Made To Be a Royal Priesthood

Throughout the season of Advent we spent time asking the question, What Child is this? Reflecting on the person of Jesus, and who he is as the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One. Jesus fulfilled the role of Messiah in three different ways - as prophet, priest and king. Jesus is the promised prophet - taking on the task of proclaiming the fullness of God’s word to us, teaching us everything God wants us to know. Jesus comes as the perfect priest, the one who intercedes to the Father on our behalf, bringing our prayers, bringing our gifts and offerings - and finally, bringing sacrifice for our sin. Not just bringing, but being that sacrifice, offering his own life in our stead. Finally, Jesus is the coming king, the one who comes to reign over heaven and earth - the one who is worthy to do so because he humbled himself completely, from taking on human flesh, giving up divine power and glory, to being obedient to death - and as Paul writes, even death on a cross.

There’s so much more we could say about Jesus. But the story doesn’t end there - this work is not yet complete. These tasks, these offices - prophet, priest and king - more work to be done. And this is where we come in - Jesus is calling us to share in this work with him. Listen to this comes from Revelation 1:5-6: To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.

The him is, of course, Jesus. He is the one who loves us. He is the one who has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood on the cross. But that’s not all Jesus has done - notice how it continues - he has made us to be a kingdom (sharing in the duties of his kingdom, his reign) and has made us to be priests in order to serve the Father. Ends with an exaltation of praise - let all glory and power belong to you Jesus, always and forever. Amen to that.

Using the same language we’ve been using to talk about the various offices - by the way, when I use the word office here, it refers to a special duty or charge - position of authority, of responsibility, to do a task, usually within a government. So we’ve been using this language to talk about what special charges Jesus was given to do - to serve as prophet, priest and king. This verse in Revelation is telling us that Jesus is passing that authority and responsibility onto us. We’re to serve as prophets, priests and kings.

This is not the only place in the Bible we see these instructions, this call goes way back. For instance, Exodus 19:4-6, this is what God gave Moses to say to the Israelites right after he brought them out of slavery in Egypt: You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, 6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

1 Peter reflects the same language for the church, 1 Peter 2:4-5, As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. And then it continues in v. 9, But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

We see all the offices reflected here, all the ways that we are to share in this work with Jesus - prophetic, speaking the words of God - you are a chosen people…that you may declare the praises of him. That you may declare, speak out, make known.

A lot of language here about role of priest - being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. That’s what priests do, remember, they bring the sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. Notice it doesn’t say animal sacrifices, so you can rest easy. It says spiritual sacrifices - we’ll talk a little more about that in a bit.

Finally, we have kingdom language here, the office of king. We are God’s royal priesthood - not a regular priesthood, a royal one. A holy nation - nation is a kingdom when it’s ruled by a king.

Prophet, Priest, King

I want to take time this morning to walk through these a little bit, to give us an idea of exactly what it is that Jesus has made us to be, when it says that he made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father. There’s a really helpful way to flesh this out, it comes from our denomination’s essential tenets. This is the document that we established as ECO, to which every leader in the church agrees to abide by, to hold to these essential truths. And this part comes under the section that is entitled “The Faithful Stewardship of All of Life.” The idea, this essential truth, that we are to faithfully offer the whole of our lives, all that we have, to Jesus. That’s what a steward is, something has been placed in our care, we are to steward it - but it’s not for us, it’s for our master and Lord. Whatever we have, is ultimately for him and to be used for his purposes.

Here’s what our Essential Tenets say about our role as God’s prophet, priests, being his kingdom: The ministries of the church reflect the three-fold office of Christ as prophet, priest and king - reflected in the church’s ordered ministries of teaching elders, deacons and ruling elders. We affirm that men and women alike are called to all ministries of the church, and that every member is called to share in all of Christ’s offices within the world beyond the church. Every Christian is called to a prophetic life, proclaiming the good news to the world and enacting that good news. Every Christian is called to extend the Lordship of Christ to every corner of the world. And every Christian is called to participate in Christ’s priestly, mediatorial work, sharing in the suffering of the world in ways that extend God’s blessing and offering intercession to God on behalf of the world. We are equipped to share in these offices by the Holy Spirit, who confirms us to the patterns of Christ’s life.

Now that’s a mouthful and a half, so we’re going to walk through it so we can better sense of what it’s saying. A few overall things - it’s connecting the ministries of the church (what we do) directly to three offices, tasks of Jesus - prophet, priest and king. That’s our framework. Then it goes to say how our leadership is set up in the same way - we don’t use this language, so I want to explain it just for a minute: when it says teaching elder, that’s a reference to me, pastor. My primary role is as prophet, to proclaim, to speak the word of God through preaching and teaching. Next, there are deacons - we don’t have those here (we could), but deacons are ordained to serving ministries, the priestly role. Finally, the ruling elder, or as we would say, simply “elder” is the office of king, they hold the authority and responsibility of leadership of church.

But what I want to focus on is this - that every member, every single one of us, is called to share in all of Christ’s offices (prophet, priest and king) - catch this - within the world beyond the church. Just as Jesus left heaven and came to earth to fulfill his offices, we are, too - to go out into the world. This is not an in-office job. This is outside work - go.

First office is that of prophet. Every Christian is called to a prophetic life, proclaiming the good news to the world and enacting that good news. This is saying that we are to share the good news of Jesus - not simply with each other, but with a lost and broken world that desperately needs to hear it. And we are to do it in two ways - through proclamation, actually speaking, saying the words - and enacting them. Through our actions. Our deeds. Those two should go hand-in-hand.

This is why we’re planning over the months to come, to have these lunch and learning gatherings - to learn better to share with others the good news of Jesus. We want to start in January with thinking through our own faith story, how we ourselves have experienced the good news of Jesus. It’s hard to share something you don’t think is good news. So we want all of us to be able to know the good news, to know how trusting in Jesus, life in him, has changed us, saved us - to the point where we can’t help but share it (because that’s what you do when you have good news, you share it).

I really don’t want this to be something we do simply because we feel obligated to do, I’m supposed to do this to be a good Christian. My hope is that we do this because we’re so enamored with who Jesus is, what he’s done for us - what he continues to do for us, all the mercy and blessings and the love we experience on a day-to-day basis.

Out of that we proclaim to others the good news of Jesus. To let people who are lost, directionless in life, feel adrift - know that Jesus finds the lost. He gives purpose. Reveals to us what we were made for - the good he has for us. There are people we know who live in depression - sometimes severe, sometimes, a general unease and anxiety - we can point them to living hope. There are people we know who are stuck in destructive patterns - they destroyed relationships, bear burden of guilt and shame - we can let them know that in Jesus they can be forgiven, once and for all.

And not just to speak this good news, but enact it. Let it be seen in our lives. There’s a reason why, as the saying goes, actions speak louder than words. There’s a story John Ortberg tells of a man he calls Hank. Hank grew up in the church, went virtually every Sunday. But Hank did not express love well - to his wife, to his children, to the members of his church. One day someone in his church asked him if he was happy. Hank said, “yes.” Man replied, tell it to your face.

In other words, Hank did not live as a man whose life had been changed by the good news of Jesus. The love of Jesus, the grace of Jesus, the peace of Jesus, the joy of Jesus, the humility of Jesus - none of these were made manifest in his life. He did not enact the good news of Jesus because he didn’t know the good news. Which is not to say that he couldn’t articulate the news, express the words - it’s to say that he had not experienced them.

As we often said in the ministry of Young Life, people don’t care what you know unless they know how much you care. This is why we strive to be like Jesus, so that through us, others, those in the world (certainly here, too), can experience his grace through us. His kindness. His patience. His hope through how we interact with them.

So the second office is king. Every Christian is called to extend the Lordship of Christ to every corner of the world. So, what does that mean? It’s that we work towards making the world as God intended it to be. His reign would be upon the earth. His justice, his righteousness, his peace would be upon the earth - we would work to make that happen.

In the kingdom of God, no one would go hungry. So we work toward making sure that people have enough to eat - such as we’ve been doing the past several weeks collecting food and serving at the Community Cupboard. It might also mean helping others learn to manage their money better, helping to get them out of debt, so they can pay for the things they need. Or help someone get a job, teach them a skill.

Mission of Habitat for Humanity, that everyone would have a safe, suitable home to live in, home they can call their own. That’s kingdom work. Kingdom work involves ministries of justice - working to make sure the vulnerable are not taken advantage of. One of the best ministries that does this work is International Justice Mission - combat sex trade, fight against corrupt legal systems, child slave labor.

Kingdom work involves teaching, tutoring so children can learn to grow into the fullness of who God made them to be. It might involve fostering children and even adoption. Care for the elderly, the sick, the lonely. The list goes on. This is the work that the Bible describes as care for the widow and the orphan.

The third and final office is that of priest. And every Christian is called to participate in Christ’s priestly, mediatorial work, sharing in the suffering of the world in ways that extend God’s blessing and offering intercession to God on behalf of the world.

Ok, so that’s a lot in there. The best way to understand it is to think of what Jesus did (and does) for us as the perfect priest. That’s the work we’re to participate in. Remember, that priest is the go-between, mediates between the people and God. That’s what Jesus did for us - in two particular ways, both of which are reflected here.

Jesus not only made the sacrifice, as priests do, but he became the sacrifice. The perfect, once and for all sacrifice for our sins. He did that by coming to us, becoming one of us, sharing in our sufferings, suffering for us. Enduring the cross for our sake. Therefore, to share in this office of priest is a call for us to enter into the suffering of the world for the sake of others, that they might experience the blessings of God.

Ministry is messy, because people are messy. It costs to love wounded people. To care for people who have lots of needs - that can be all sorts, physical frailty, emotional distress, mental instability - the list goes on. We offer ourselves, our time, our resources, our energy, on the behalf of others. To meet their needs, that they might experience God’s blessings.

This is what 1 Peter 2:5 is referring to - to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. This is the offering of ourselves to God for his purposes. What Paul means when he writes in Romans 12:1, Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship, or as it’s sometimes translated, this is your spiritual worship.

Idea is this - in the same way that Jesus offered himself, as a sacrifice, enduring suffering, for us - we choose to do the same for others. We share in the suffering of the world in ways that extend God’s blessings. Because we want people to experience the blessings of Jesus, we get involved in their lives, though it may cost us. That’s the priestly of Christ, that go-between.

Go between goes both ways - not only to others on behalf of God, bringing his blessing, but towards God on behalf of others. We offer intercession to God on behalf of the world. We pray for the world. We pray for those in need. We come before the king and get down on our knees and bring these people before the Lord. Lord, help them. Save them. Show them mercy, Lord. As Jesus intercedes to the Father on our behalf, we share in his work by doing the same for others.

Spiritual Direction - So, as always, how do we put into practice what Jesus is teaching us? We talked through a lot this morning about how we are to share in Christ’s offices - prophet, priest and king. So I want to encourage you to consider how you might take one step towards living more fully into one of those, engage in it more intentionally.

Prophet - Lunch & Learn! Your faith story, offer yourself to the Lord, open to opportunities to share the good news of Jesus, invite someone to church, to tell your faith story.

King - may be doing this work already (all good work is!), do it mindfully, offering your day, your work, to Jesus. Take advantages of opportunities to serve. You might choose to support a ministry that’s engaged in this work (IJM, sponsoring a child through World Vision, Samaritan’s Purse ministries). Or get involved in work we’re doing here, say, through Capernaum (kingdom & prophetic work - and sometimes, priestly).

Priest - offer your bodies as living sacrifices, enter into the messiness of others’ lives, pray for them. Pray for the wounded people you know. Pray for people to come to know Jesus, come to Jesus on their behalf.

As always we do this because Jesus did - does - this for us. Serves us as the prophet…the priest…the king. And he invites us now to share in that same work - call of every follower of Jesus.