Sermon Tone Analysis

A couple of weeks ago, Miss Lynn, who is away for a couple more weeks visiting her sister, stopped me in the kitchen and said, “Hey, would you mind doing me a big favor and not ask me any questions about it?”

Well, this is my mother, so who was I to wonder what was going on?

She’s certainly done enough favors for me throughout my life that I will never be able to pay her back.

So, I did what any good son would do.

I said, “Uh … sure?”

“Would you wear a nice shirt when you preach this Sunday?”

she asked.

“It would really mean a lot to me.”

“Well, Mom, I can’t think of something LESS meaningful to do, but yes, I’ll wear a nice shirt.”

And so, for the graduation party you guys threw for me after church a couple of weeks ago, I was wearing not just a button-down blue shirt, but also a jacket that I threw in for good measure.

I guess she wanted me to look good for the photos that were taken.

Now, you’ll notice that she’s gone this week, and so is the button-down shirt.

I’ll wear one again the next time we’re in the sanctuary, but it gets a bit too hot under these lights for a lot of formality.

So, Mom, if you’re watching on Facebook — sorry.

But I suspect you guys have gotten used to a more relaxed approach when it comes to things like my physical appearance and the order of the service here each week.

There’s more to this than simply the fact that I have a lot more in common with Oscar Madison than Felix Unger (there’s an old-school reference for you!).

In fact, when I was called as your interim pastor in 2018, someone asked me if I would be wearing vestments, as previous pastors had done.

Now, some of you weren’t around back then, and you might not know what vestments are.

So let me help you out: It’s a formal-looking, satin-y robe, and it’s often very ornate, with embroidery and other embellishments that can reflect the church calendar or even the interests of the minister.

Usually, there is also a stole that is also ornately decorated and worn hanging around the neck.

Now, I don’t want to come across this morning as criticizing those who have preached here or anywhere else in such outfits, but I can tell you that when I was asked if I planned to wear them, I didn’t hesitate for a moment in saying, “No.”

Setting aside the fact of how terrible a guy of my dimensions would look in such an outfit, I REALLY wanted to step away from the look of the Catholic priests, from whom the Protestant churches whose ministers wear vestments inherited the tradition.

And there’s a theological reason that I wanted to step away from that tradition.

The Catholic church model of church polity, which has orders of authority over the church that include priests and bishops and archbishops, all the way up to the pope, has no biblical standing.

In fact, as we will see today, every follower of Christ is a priest under our High Priest, Jesus Christ.

In fact, we are described by the Apostle John in the Book of Revelation as a kingdom of priests.

The Apostle Peter says we have a “royal priesthood.”

And so, as we continue the study I have called “The Church — Revealed,” we will look at this next metaphor for the church.

You may recall that so far we’ve discussed how the church is composed of sheep following the Good Shepherd and how the church is likened to the Bride of Christ.

Both of those metaphors for the church revealed something to us about the church’s responsibilities and, hence, our responsibilities as Christians.

We will see today that the reality of our position as priests under the High Priest, Jesus, also results in a set of expectations for each one of us who has followed Jesus in faith.

But first, we’ll need to look back to the Old Testament to learn a little about the role of priests during that period.

Now, the dictionary definition of a priest is “one who officiates at the altar, or who performs the rites of sacrifice; one who acts as mediator between man and the divinity or the gods in any form of religion.”

In the times of the Old Testament Patriarchs — Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and so on — these men offered their own sacrifices to God.

Even back to Cain and Abel, we see that men were offering sacrifices to God for their families.

And so, we can assume that Adam did this, too, after he and Eve had been cast out of the Garden of Eden for their sin.

It seems very likely that he had taught his sons about their need to give back to the Lord.

So, what we can understand from the time of the Patriarchs was that fathers were the priests of their families.

They taught their families about God, and they taught their families to honor God through sacrifice.

Priesthood was universal during this time.

Every believer was a priest of God.

And it seems that this is just what God had intended all along, because we hear Him in the Book of Exodus promise the people of Israel that they would be a “kingdom of priests” if they would keep His covenant with them.

We’ll be looking at this event in Exodus, chapter 19 today.

While you are turning there, let me give you some context.

The event we will be looking at today takes place three months after the Hebrew people had been rescued by God from their slavery in Egypt.

God had sent the 10 plagues to smite Egypt and its people, and the Pharaoh, whose own son was one of the firstborn of all Egypt to be killed in the 10th plague, had sent them away.

Then, as Pharaoh had changed his mind and began pursuing the slaves as they made their way out of Egypt, God had miraculously parted the waters of the Red Sea so they could cross it on dry land, and He had closed up the waters upon the Egyptian armies as they went after the Hebrew people.

God had turned bitter waters sweet.

He had provided water out of a rock.

He had given them manna from the sky each morning so they could eat.

And He had given them a miraculous battle victory over the Amelekites.

They were on their way to the Promised Land, and God had shown them over and over again that He is faithful, that He is good, and that they could trust Him.

And so, let’s pick up at verse 1 of chapter 19.

God had chosen this people, Israel.

They had done nothing to merit His choosing.

There was nothing special about them among the nations except that God had chosen to love them in a special way.

And in His grace, He had set this people apart unto Himself.

He had made this people holy unto Himself, even though they had already demonstrated themselves to be faithless and unfaithful to Him.

And He was promising them that if they would keep His covenant with them, they would be a kingdom of priests, a kingdom of people with access to Him, a kingdom of mediators between God and mankind.

But something happens in this chapter that suggests they were not ready for such a personal relationship with God.

Look at verse 9.

God commands Moses to set bounds around the mountain so that nobody will touch the border of it.

Anybody who does so, God says in verse 12, must be put to death.

Now, look at verse 13.

Now, the word that’s translated as “to” in the phrase, “they shall come up to the mountain,” can also be translated as “on.”

In that case, what God would be saying is for the people to wait for the sound of the ram’s horn and then come up on the mountain to be with Moses.

This will be important when we see the people’s reaction to God’s presence on the mountain.

And so, the people got ready to see the Lord.

Now, look at verse 16.

Now, God tells Moses to leave the people at the foot of the mountain, and as they wait there, he goes back up the mountain, and God tells him the 10 commandments.

And when He had finished speaking the 10 commandments — look at verse 18 of chapter 20 ...

So, the people heard the thunder, saw the lightning flashing and the mountain smoking.

And then they heard the sound of the horn.

And what did they do?

They trembled.

The Hebrew word here suggests trembling in terror.

They were terrified of God.

This God who had rescued them from Egypt, who had given them miraculous victories over the Egyptians and the Amelekites, who had provided water and food for them in the wilderness.

This God who had promised to make them His own possession and a kingdom of priests.

They were terrified of the God who had loved them so well.

In Deuteronomy, chapter 5, Moses reminds the next generation of the people of Israel of what had happened at the mountain, and he suggests that they had heard God’s words with their own ears and had responded in fear, rather than love.

Keep your finger in the Exodus passage and turn to Deuteronomy, chapter 5. We’ll pick up in verse 22.

So, instead of responding in love and faith to God, they responded in terror.

They had already broken faith with God.

And they would break His covenant when they created and worshiped the idol of the golden ox as Moses was receiving the two tablets of stone at the top of Mt.

Sinai.

And so, instead of becoming a kingdom of priests, the people of Israel became a kingdom WITH priests.

Back in Exodus, the rest of chapters 20-24 deal with various laws that were to govern the nation of Israel.

And then, chapters 25-27 deal with plans for the tabernacle — the tent in which God’s presence would abide while they were traveling.

And the most significant aspect of this tabernacle was the holy of holies, that place where the ark of the covenant would be kept and where only the High Priest would be allowed — and then only on one day each year, the Day of Atonement, when he would sprinkle blood on the mercy seat of the ark to atone for the sins of the nation.

In chapter 28, God designates Moses’ brother, Aaron, and his sons to be priests, with Aaron as the high priest.

No longer is the idea of a kingdom of priests in play in Israel.

The people had forfeited that opportunity with their sin against God.

Now, they must come to God through a mediator.

Now they must allow the priests to make sacrifices on their behalf.

But this arrangement was only ever intended to be temporary.

The priesthood and the tabernacle and the sacrificial offerings for sin were all intended to point forward to Jesus, whom the writer of the New Testament Book of Hebrews describes as the fulfillment of the Old Testament priesthood.

Appointed to this position of High Priest by God Himself, Jesus is presented by the writer of Hebrews as superior to Aaron and the other High Priests.

He was sinless, and so He didn’t need to be sprinkled with the blood of sacrificed animals to atone for His sins.

And instead of offering sacrifices for the sins of others, He offered Himself as the spotless Lamb of God, crucified for the sins of all mankind.