A holy Priesthood

 

Today’s devotional is about a phrase taken from this verse: “You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5) Christians are a spiritual house made up of living stones, yet also a “holy priesthood” that offers spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.

In the OT, the priests typified the atoning and intercessory work of the coming Messiah. In those days, people were thought to not have direct access to God and needed others to represent them before Him. This conception vanishes in the light of Christianity. By virtue of their relation to Christ all believers have direct approach to God. This means what was once a priestly privilege now belongs to all Christians. While some religious denominations still stick to having priests that represent them, no believer needs another to intervene between his soul and the Lord. Every person may and must stand for themselves in personal relation with God. Yet we do pray for one another out of love and a desire to encourage and build up our faith.

When I looked for the duties of priests, most of the hits said Christians share common spiritual characteristics with Old Testament priests but those definitions came from denominations with a hierarchy that puts their church leaders in a special authority over others. Some do this to the point of the priest being the only one who can read and interpret Scripture. This is not a NT concept.

The OT priests offered acceptable sacrifices to God on behalf of the people. Since Jesus is our acceptable sacrifice, this work is no longer necessary. However, some of the characteristics of OT priests do apply to NT believers. We are chosen by God, cleansed but not by special ceremonies but by the blood of Christ. We are also clothed in robes of righteousness anointed with the oil of the Holy Spirit, and expected to obey God, love His Word, and walk with Him. The OT says of faithful priests:

True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 2:6-7)

Those qualifications are paralleled in God’s people, now the only true priests. I’m humbled to think how I was chosen by Him from before the foundation of the world, cleansed by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, clothed with the righteousness of Christ and anointed by the Holy Spirit. I’m “to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5).

That offering is my whole life. “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1) and to live in such a way that God’s people and those yet to be saved are drawn to God:

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)

This makes the priesthood of believers a high and holy calling. It is not about a special authority over other Christians nor fancy robes and a title. Pointing others to the glory of God requires the power of the Holy Spirit. I cannot do it without Him.

PRAY: Jesus, You did all that the priesthood exists to do. Being called to be part of this Body of priests who believe in You and do Your will is a privilege far beyond a mere title and job description. No Christian can claim a role as priest over other believers as every Christian belongs to this special class. We all have the privilege of reading and interpreting Your Word, of praying for others, of telling people about You. Thinking of others as Your priests also opens me to learn from everyone and be blessed by everyone. What a joy to share this position. I am thankful for the great honor You bestow on all of us who trust You. May we bring glory to Your name.

For Further Study: Read Leviticus 8 and 9 looking for the qualities Christ gives so that His people can be priests and for the differences that should happen because of this amazing status we have.

 

 

Christ’s saving power

 

READ 2 Peter 1–3

In this second letter, Peter describes some twisted versions of Christian truth being taught and explains the “more fully confirmed” truth of the gospel as an antidote to heresy. The gospel is like “a lamp shining in a dark place” — a truth that continually reminds me of both my need and God’s power.

This week, I’ve been praying for Christians caught up in twisted ideas that keep them from gospel truth. As I read these three chapters, much came across as what they need to hear. However, it is coming to my ears, so I need to hear it too.

The very first verse is profound. Peter is writing to “those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” This is gospel truth: everyone who believes is on equal ground, not because of any maturity level but because our righteousness is in Christ, not in ourselves. My standing before God, and the standing of those I pray for is equal to Peter, Paul, Billy Graham and any ‘giant’ of the faith because we stand in Jesus Christ, not in ourselves. This checks any superiority I might feel over someone caught in false teaching, or a babe in Christ, or any inferiority I might feel when looking at others whose lives seem far more godly than mine. In Christ we stand as equals before God.

As far as maturing in Christ, we have all we need and no excuses for our lapses and slow progress:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (2 Peter 1:2–4)

My part is not earning salvation by good works, but adding to God’s gift of faith the other gifts He makes available for the taking. Peter lists them: virtue (moral excellence), knowledge (used rightly), self-control (listed as a spiritual gift in Galatians 5), steadfastness (that comes through trials, see James 1), godliness (piety), brotherly affection (toward my siblings in Christ), and love (unconditional care expressed in action). He says if I have these (in Christ) and am growing in them, then I will be effective and fruitful, but if they are lacking, I’ve forgotten the gospel and become blind to what Christ has done for me. For that, I need to confirm my salvation, the saving work of Christ who “richly provides for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (1:5–11) Peter didn’t want to depart without reminding others of these truths.

He also reminds me of God’s power to rescue His own when they are not where they should be, like Noah and Lot, because He knows “how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment . . . .” (2:4–10) He also knows what to do with false teachers.

Peter’s words remind me concerning my prayers for others and what I need to do as I wait on Him:

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (3:9)

He is patient. I tend to want answers right now, to see repentance in the lives of back-sliders, prodigals, and mild rebels the same day that I pray for them, but God isn’t in the same rush. He tells me:

Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (3:14–18)

Do what I am supposed to do and not be anxious for God will do what He alone can do — as Philippians 1:6 says, “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” This applies to me, to those in spiritual trouble, and those ‘giants’ of the faith as well, because we are equal in our standing and equal in our need and equal in being blessed by the saving power of our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ.