Priesthood of Believers

Introduction

The doctrine of the Priesthood of all believers became especially important during the Reformation. In Medieval Catholicism, only the priest could understand properly the bible and it was for this reason that the Catholic church was so against the translation of the bible. The priest was the one who brought you mediated grace to you through the seven sacraments. If you remember when we went through the habits of grace last year, each of those was something you could do personally or corporately, but no one had to do them for you. The priests also claimed to have power to absolve sin.

Anabaptists and Baptists along with the reformers rejected such claims. We held to the doctrine of the priesthood of the believers. But what does that mean? J. V Fesko defines it like this:

That all believers in Christ share in his priestly status; therefore, there is no special class of people who mediate the knowledge, presence, and forgiveness of Christ to the rest of believers, and all believers have the right and authority to read, interpret, and apply the teachings of Scripture.

So the question we need to ask is do I need someone else to stand between me and God or can I go to Jesus one on one. Can I have a personal relationship with him? When I sin, can I go to him directly for forgiveness or must I go to someone else? Is the scripture so far beyond me that I can’t understand it without someone else to tell me what it says? Are the leaders within the church a special class of people that God has given hidden knowledge to only to be handed out at their discretion?

The answer to all those questions is no. I can have a personal relationship with God, when I sin I can confess and repent of that sin and seek forgiveness, when I open the bible, God’s spirit can guide me and open my eyes to truth. The leaders within the church are merely another set of priests who serve alongside all of us.

Biblical Basis

There are two primary passages that establish the doctrine of the priesthood of the believers. We are going to start in Revelation 5:9–10 “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” because I want to focus on the second text. This is a praise of the lamb by those who have been redeemed out of every tribe, language and nation. But notice they praise the lamb because he has made them kings and priests. Who has been made a king and a priest? all the redeemed. There is no such thing as a Christian that this doesn’t apply to.

You might be tempted to think, I could never love God like Jonathan Edwards or trust God like George Mueller. I can’t understand the scriptures like an HA Ironside or preach like CH Spurgeon. That is just beyond me because they were special men of God. The saints before the throne deny such feelings. We have all been given this special status before God. Paul Washer famously says: There are no great men of God only weak, pitiful, faithless men of a great and merciful God. These men were not something special on their own. They were men who availed themselves of their access to God and God made something of them. We are all kings and priests.

2. The second passage I want us to look at is found in 1 Peter 2. The emphasis of 1 Peter is that we are strangers and pilgrims in a world antagonistic to our faith. But being wanderers in a forgeign country, we are a nation of priests.

1 Peter 2:4–5 “To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 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.”

a. Peter begins by drawing a connection between us and Jesus Christ. In vs 4, Jesus is a living stone rejected by the world; but vs 5 says you also are lively or living stones. Built up into a spiritual house. This house is a house of priests. Peter mixes metaphors and talks about how we are a holy priesthood. The Church, all Christians are a priesthood. A priesthood is the collective body of priests with all the power and authority delegated by God to the priests. So here is what this mean. Luke over there is a priest, Jeff is a priest, Joy is a priestess, Bella is a priest; but together, we are a holy, set apart priesthood. God has called the church out from the world to be a unique group of priests.

b. Notice the phrase by Jesus Christ. Our priesthood is based on the fact that we are united with Christ. We are made priests by Jesus Christ. As I have said before, there is nothing special about you that turns you into a priest. It is all because of what Jesus Christ did for us that we are priests and it is because of our connection to him that we enjoy this privilege. I want us to jump over to Heb 4:14-16 to see this connection.

c. The author of Hebrews in this passage speaks of Jesus as a priest who offered up the sacrifice of his body on our behalf. But notice the connection he draws in this passage. Because Christ is our high priest, we can come boldly before the throne of grace. Let me ask you this, who comes before the mercy seat? priests do. Jesus work on the cross made it possible for all of us to come before God’s mercy seat as priests.

d. Back in 1 Peter 2:9 “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:” Peter again reminds us that we are a royal priesthood. But both vs 5 and 9 tell us why. Why has God made you a priest? to offer up spiritual sacrifices. We don’t offer up a lamb or grains, but we do offer up spiritual sacrifices. The second reason is so that the world can look at us and glorify God. When they see what God has done in our life, bringing us out of darkness and into light; they are forced to form an opinion about God. So as a holy priesthood, it is important that we live holy. Can you think of any priests who lived unholy and it brought shame on God’s name? Hophni and Phineas.

What are our sacrifices?

So if we are priests, what are our sacrifices? Sripture gives us atleast four that we will mention tonight

Our lives

Our lips

Our actions

Our wealth

Our lives- Romans 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” The greatest sacrifice we can make to God is our bodies, but by this Paul means our lives. It is a living sacrifice not a dead one. So how we live our life in this body is a pleasing sacrifice to God.

2. Our lips- Hebrews 13:15 “By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.” God is worthy of praise. It shoudl be a regular pattern of our lives to praise God and give him thanks for what he has done for us.

3. Our actions- Hebrews 13:16 “But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” The author of Hebrews goes on to say that we should do good. What good things can we do for other people? God says this is a sacrifice that he will accept. I will not focus on the word communicate here because the concept is in the next passage.

4. Our wealth- Philippians 4:18 “But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.” Epaphroditus had given to meet the needs in Paul’s life to the point that Paul said he abounded and was full. He didn’t need anything else. But Epaphroditus’s sharing what he had was a sweet smell and acceptable sacrifice to God.

Is there an extreme?

Yes to think that I don’t need others to help me- we become our own individualistic church. This isn’t saying that every man is a priest to himself an island all alone. Rather we are all part of a priesthood, together. Notice the word Ye in 1 Peter 2:3-4,9. We all minister to each other in the way that God has designed us to serve.

God did give pastors and teachers to the church to come alongside us and help us. 1 Corinthians 12:13–16 “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?”

We must beware of thinking that we are the final arbiters of truth and rejecting everything everyone else has to say. God called us to be part of a body with teachers and preachers. We all minister to each other in this body. We all need each other. Considering the 51 “one anothers” in the bible, I would say it is safe to say you cannot be what God desires you to be without other Christians in your life.

When we find our belief in the priesthood of the believer causes us to reject everything the other Christians are saying, we should be concerned. When it drives us from church after church, we should be concerned. When we can never agree with anyone doctrinally, we should be concerned. When we think we have come up with a new doctrine that no one else in the church has ever believed, that should concern us. This doctrine is not the priesthood of the believer, but the priesthood of the believers. That s makes a big difference. Yes, we are all priests; but Peter puts an emphasis on the collective priesthood. We are not wandering priests with no home and no people.

Conclusion

There is a priviledge here. We can come to God and commune with him, but there is also a responsibility.

So what is the application of this doctrine to our lives?

I can have a personal relationship with God. Guys coming to church and listening to me preach should not be the extend of your relationship with Him. Those habits of grace are intended to be your personal practice.

I can study the word of God myself and seek his guidance on how I should apply it to my life.

We are all called to serve one another. Every Christian is a minister. They may not be full-time but God has a purpose for you specifically in this church. We will talk more about this when we get to Romans 12 on sunday mornings.

We do not serve in isolation. We are a kingdom of priests. While we all have direct access to God, this is not to say that we can have our own form of individual christianity with our own individual practices and doctrines.

Are you availing yourself of your rights as a priest? Do you know your place in the service of God in the church? In true Christianity, there are no pew warmers. Have you found yourself sinfully drawn to disagree with everyone and feel like you are an island on your own? This message is for you. Let’s respond to what the Lord has shown us today.