A Different Kind of Sacrifice

Recap last week:

Break down clergy/laity divide

Create Consecrated Places and Consecrated People

This is our work in the world (not that we don’t need priests but that we need a whole lot of priests

Outline:

I Recap

a. what is a priest, what is their functions

-mediators,

-butchers

-ceremonial leaders,

-apply God’s will

-Word, Represented God to people

-Represented people to God,

b. Priests from very early: Melchizedek

c. we are a different kind of people.....not base normal people but set

apart

-Surgical instruments

-Special plates holidays

-Special tools with special purposes

-Holy means focused and not dulled by everyday activities

-we keep our bodies holy because we have a special purpose

-And if sin = death, righteousness brings life and connection with

the father, about purity of purpose rather than purity of being.

d. consecrated places and consecrated people

But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

How do we think of priests? Catholics, anglican, orthodox….same ideas… what about ancient?

What is sacrifice:

enacted dramatic example of how sin=death

innocent blood shed because what we do causes destruction.

-Lies destroy relationships and threaten families

-stealing destroys communities

-adultery destroys relationships communities and families

-idolatry destroys our souls (serve darkness)

-Coveting destroys joy and relationships

-Not taking a sabbath destroys our bodies and relationships

-Cursing God’s name destroys our connection with Life

-When we dishonor our parents it threatens our communities

And we see two things in view in Genesis 3 at the first sacrifice:

21 And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife. 1

1 Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Ge 3:21.

God kills animals (priest)

To show them how to worship (sacrifice)

So they would understand the undeniable connection between sin and death (surely we won’t die if we eat)

And so we see developing this cultic System of sacrifice given by God for a few purposes:

-Cover our shame (reconcile relationship)

-connect sin with death (remind us of cost of disconnection with God)

-Create Rhythms of thanksgiving, atonement, forgiveness and remembrance

-Participation unites you with God and His people (we trust God by obeying calls for sacrifice)

And lastly, gave them opportunities for BBQ’s (meat in ancient world), For most people, meat was eaten only a few times a year when animals were slaughtered for the major festivals, or at tribal meetings, celebrations such as weddings, and for the visits of important guests (1 Samuel 28:24). Only at the king's table was meat served daily, according to the Bible.

Unfortunately, the people pretty quickly saw it as merely ritual. (empty of meaning) which is what humans do.

Worship. church, bible reading, service, giving, communion, singing.

We have to do this work of constantly remembering and re-infusing our worship with meaning by remembering why.

The Why drives us. if there is no why, there is no purpose.

And even the priests given this special role quickly saw it as duty, and in some ways resentment.

-not given land

-Temple is their portion

-see it as a way to make money rather than serve.

-they did not consecrate themselves, the space or the people

And we as a royal priesthood, don’t come to the work as employees or servants but as a part of the family. We have to remember week after week and celebrate the work.

We have to move from just mere butchers to participants in the sacrifice. Lets look at the work of the priests and the work of Jesus.

Scripture clearly identifies Jesus Christ as our great high priest: “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession” (Heb. 4:14).

The Old Testament whispered and hinted about the priestly office of Christ through types and shadows, such as Aaron, Israel’s first high priest, and the Levites. God instructed Aaron, for example, that he had to cleanse Israel of their sins through the protocols of the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16).

Aaron, and Aaron alone, had to sacrifice a bull to cleanse ceremonially himself (Lev. 16:11) (Jesus’ blood did not need a bull sacrifice because he was already ceremonially clean)

and then take some of the blood, enter the holy of holies, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat (Lev. 16:14). (God’s blood shed on the cross outside the temple (gushing from his side) and the curtain being torn gave access to the holy of holies to even gentiles.

God instructed him to take two scapegoats and sacrifice one of them and sprinkle its blood on the altar (Lev. 16:18) Our sin is atoned through Blood. Jesus was killed so the people’s sin would be ‘covered’ (debt metaphor)

and take the second goat, lay his hands on it, confess Israel’s sins over it, and then send it out of the camp into the wilderness (Lev. 16:21). In this act the goat was to “bear all their iniquities” and carry them away (Lev. 16:22). Jesus was forsaken by his father so that our shame would be removed and we could enter into his presence. Gen 1

As the Old Testament progressively unfolded God’s plan of redemption, the prophets revealed that the Messiah was the ultimate sacrifice. No longer would Israel look to the blood of bulls and goats but to the blood of the Messiah, who would be pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, bear our griefs, and carry our sorrows (Isa. 53:4–5). No longer would the scapegoat bear Israel’s sins but rather Jesus would, “And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6). The Messiah would be both sacrifice and priest: “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:11–12).

Like Jesus, when we become a royal priesthood we follow the work of our one and only high priest:

From Butchers to Lambs

A living sacrifice holy and pleasing to the Lord.

Our lives an aroma that is pleasing to God

Our lives consecrated and set apart to mediate between God and people.

Our lives given as a ransom so that others might be brought near to God.

We bear others shame so that they might be reconciled to God.

Conclusion:

In his baptism, God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit to carry out his threefold office of prophet, priest, and king (Luke 3:1–21; Matt. 3:1–17; Mark 1:1–11). Likewise, we who are in union with Christ share in this same anointing through Christ’s outpouring of the Spirit upon the church (Acts 2:1–41, esp. 33, 38; cf. Gal. 3:14). Through Christ’s priestly office, all believers who are united to him share in his anointing. Two chief texts of Scripture teach us this truth. The first is 1 Peter 2:9, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” Within the context of Peter’s statement, he rests the church’s identity as a royal priesthood in their union with Christ. They have come to the living stone rejected by men but chosen and precious in the sight of God, and as such, they have become living stones “to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 2:4–5). Our priestly office finds its fount and source in Christ’s priestly office.

So this work of priesthood is not individual, it is not just for our families it is for the sake of the world. Bringing God’s presence, forgiveness, restoration and life into the world as mobile temples of God.

Ancient statues (imago dei) Tim Mackie

This is God’s plan, You.

Time to consecrate our lives: Particular purpose

Deal with sin through transformation rather than avoidance.

Purpose is deeper and pervades every part of our lives.

We need to apprentice as priests by learning the way of Jesus.

Communion as sacrifice.