PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS

I hope you like Legos. Timmy loves them. He can build anything with them. Each one of these little bricks is important. They all have to be there for whatever you build to stay together and work.

When God’s people come together, we are all important and we all have work to do. Each one of us is a royal priest. The priesthood of every believer was lost to Catholicism. The priests controlled the church and all the work of the church was done by the priests. They were viewed as the only ones able to do God’s work. The members just “showed up” and enjoyed the show—so to speak.

The Reformation changed all that. One of the major themes of reform was that every Christian was a priest of God and should be involved in God’s work. Everyone was called to rally under the banner of the cross. It didn’t matter what sort of labor you were involved in, that work was to be for God. When it came to the church and its work, the separation between the professionals and the people was torn down. Now everyone could participate in the church. In fact, everyone was expected to participate in the life of the church.

This wasn’t just a Reformation doctrine. It is a Bible doctrine. Every Christian is a priest serving under Jesus—the High Priest. Sadly, we often go back to having a professional priesthood. You will probably recognize some of these emotions.

I can’t wait until we get new leaders. Then everything will be good.

If only they would have done it this way, then it would be ok.

Well, I can’t do anything about it. I’m not an elder.

Well, nobody cares what I think.

Well, I could have told you that was a bad idea.

We have all felt and said those things. Do you know what they reveal? Those emotions point to either an abusive leadership or an absent membership.

So many of these types of problems can be governed by an active, invested, heard, and submissive church membership. This involved church membership is what happens when church members recognize that we are all priests entrusted with God’s service in our local congregation.

Y’ALL ARE ONE

says, “As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God—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” (CSB).

At the very front of the verse, we see an important word—you. Now, this is a second person plural in Greek and should be translated as “y’all.” It isn’t talking about individual activity. Everything that follows is a corporate activity. It is something we do together. We aren’t isolated. We are incorporated into the body of Christ.

This is also the way that our Triune God works. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three separate equally divine persons. They do everything together. Theologians call this “inseparable operations.” One member of the Trinity may be emphasized in an activity, but everything that they do is done together. The same principle is taught by God for his church. We are supposed to do church work together.

We are y’all. We do not sit back and critique the leaders we have chosen. We do not sit on the sidelines while the work is being done. We do not allow others to work hard while we take it easy. We are y’all.

This principle is highlighted again when we see what y’all are supposed to do. The Bible says, y’all come as a living stone. It didn’t say we come as living stones here. It says that all of us come together as one stone. This same thing happens in where Paul said, “Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice.” The “you” should be “y’all.” The sacrifice is one sacrifice. In other words “y’all come together and present your bodies as one sacrifice to God.”

So we do not lay all the work at the elders’ feet. We don’t make the ladies do all the work. The elders shouldn’t have to make every little decision. We are all involved in this work together. We are all priests entrusted with God’s service and God’s church.

Look what happens when we separate the elders as priests and we are just members. They will either have the work pile up on them and we do little, or they will become a board of directors and the work piles up on the members. The members will sit back and critique the elders and the elders will sit back and critique the members. No one is happy. Everyone is tired. Everyone is angry. And somehow, if you listen to both sides, no one is doing anything right.

Lets flip this narrative. We are all priests. We all have different roles, but we are all priests for God. We are all involved in his service. We all have a royal priestly voice that matters. We all contribute to the life, work, and decisions of the church. There is no more us vs. them. We are a congregation of priests. We have different roles. But we all are responsible to one another to live out those roles. If a priest isn’t working, the other priests get involved. If there is a member who needs motivation the elders and other priests help. If there is an elder who needs motivation, then the other elders and priests help. No one isolated. We all answer to one another for God’s glory.

This is why Peter said that when we come to God in his congregation this way that, we “are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” We together are being built so that we may together worship God. Notice the first thing that happens when we come together as a living stone is that we “are being built.” This is a passive verb. This is something that God is doing to us as a group. In verse five God does use the plural “stones” instead of the singular, but still even these stones are a spiritual house and a holy priesthood. All of y’all come together as one for God.

When we are together, God makes us a royal priesthood—all of us. The paid staff, elders, deacons, and all the members are all priests. No one is excluded from God’s service. Just as the Father, Son, and Spirit operate inseparably, Christians are to operate inseparably.

Y’ALL HAVE ONE PURPOSE

God said we are one spiritual house and one royal priesthood and one living stone because we are to “offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (). God has one people and this is their one work—to offer spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus. This reminds us of what Paul said in , “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

Both Peter and Paul tell us that we come together and work together so that we can praise God through Christ. We often think about our service to God as limited to 10-11 AM on Sunday morning. Some of you wisely extend that to 6-7 PM on Sunday and Bible classes on Sunday AM and Wednesday PM, but then we get to go do our stuff the rest of the week. Isn’t that our weekly idolatry?

Jesus said, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you” (). We get this in reverse. We seek first all these things and hope there might be time for his kingdom and his righteousness. When we follow this model, we are practicing idolatry. We are putting “all these things” before the One who made all these things for his own glory. We are seeking for all these things when there is One who has promised to give all these things to us if we seek Him.

We can see this principle in lived out in the Triune God. Notice that God does all things for his own glory. Look at God’s words in , “For my name’s sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not like silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.” In we are told that God saved us “to the praise of his glorious grace that he lavished on us in the beloved.” records that God created his sons and daughters for his glory.

At first, it sounds like God is egotistic. But in reality, it is just that God isn’t an idolater. He doesn’t place anything above himself because if he did he would be committing idolatry. Now, if God refuses to be an idolater, we should as well. We must view God as the singular prize in all our efforts.

In fact, the Bible tells us that we cannot really have faith if we are not living for God’s glory. Jesus said, “How can you believe since you accept glory from one another and don’t seek the glory that comes from the only God.” Are we living for God’s glory? Are we living to praise Him and Him alone?

God has made us holy royal priests. We are his spiritual house--the replacement of the temple. We are his family. At 12 years old Jesus recognized that he “must be about his Father’s business.” We must be about our Father’s business too. All of us together. Every member is a priest. Every member has a role to fill. Every member has a significant contribution to make.

ARE YOU Y’ALL?

There isn’t supposed to be a me vs. y’all or we vs. them mentality in the congregation. Unfortunately, there often is. Brethren, this ought not so to be. We are all priests for God here in this congregation. We need to adjust our attitudes and our practices so that we are all functioning together. So that each one is a church member involved in the church life.

emphasizes how y’all (the Christians) are coming to God and are made into a living stone by God so that God can build one temple with these stones. As special as that is, don’t miss the fact that all this is through Jesus--the original stone. quotes , “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and honored cornerstone, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.” In verse 7 Peter quotes , “The stone that the builders rejected--this one has become the cornerstone.”

In effect, Peter said you are the living stone, but Jesus is the stone of life. You are the spiritual house that God is building, but Jesus is the Temple rebuilt in the resurrection. What does this mean? It means that you are in Christ! You have been exalted with Him! You have been raised with Him! You have been glorified with Him!

Unless you haven’t. Peter reminded his readers of a reality with which they were very familiar. There are lost people. Jesus is, and by extension, his church is, “a stone to stumble over, and a rock to trip over” ( quoted in cf. ; ). The Bible says, “they stumble because they disobey the word; they were destined for this” ().

Who are you? Are you one who will stumble over Christ? Or are you one who will be built in Christ? I hope you are one who is part of God’s “chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” I hope you are one who “once were not a people but now you are God’s people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (). I hope that is you.

If you have not yet received that mercy, been made God’s people, been made a holy and royal priest, and been made a living stone in God’s Temple you can be! You can be saved. You can be added to God’s church. You can be a part of God’s work. When you come by faith and are baptized into Christ’s body you are a part of the Stone, a part of the Temple, and a priest for God. Why wait?