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Priesthood of all Believers

14 September, 2009

1 Peter 2:4&9 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Too many believers today live substandardly to their scriptural call.  Here we see that every believer is called to be a priest. We are a royal priesthood, i.e., people called to be both kings and priests.  A priest is one who can approach God bringing sacrifices and gifts.  He also ministers to people serving as a mediator as he is able to place his hands on both God and man.  Of course we have only one mediator between God and man and that is the man Christ Jesus (1Ti 2:5).  Jesus is the High Priest but as we are ‘in him’ we are priests too.

In the Old Testament, God really wanted the entire nation of Israel to be priests (Exo 19:6) but as we know the people were afraid and stayed at a distance and thrust Moses forward to approach God at Mt. Sinai.  Instead of a kingdom of priests, God chose the descendants of Aaron to be priests.  So he got priests in a kingdom rather than a kingdom of priests.  Is it any wonder that the same goes today?  Many of God’s people would rather have a special class of people to be the priests (Clergy) while they stay back content to be Laity.

The early church knew no such separation.  The apostles and prophets equipped the saints to do the work of the ministry.  Each one was a minister, a priest serving God.  Even the first deacons who were supposed to wait on tables were preaching powerfully.  One of them Stephen became the first martyr (witness) of the church.  The separation of clergy and laity came much later and led to the decline of the church.

Today as the Lord is restoring the Church, it is time for God’s people to rise up as ministers: To see themselves as priests unto God and to function in this holy calling.  Are you willing to rise up into your holy calling?  Pastors and other clergy, are you willing to unleash the laity as priests of God to function in their holy calling?
 
Pagan Christians?

15 April, 2009

Could there really be such a thing as a Pagan Christian?  The very words seem diametrically opposed, yet it seems possible for us as Christians to lapse into pagan behaviour.  During the Sermon on the Mount Jesus warned:

Matthew 6:31-33 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

A pagan is one who does not acknowledge the one and only living God, one who worships many gods or deities and has no relationship with the Creator of Heaven and Earth.  In this passage Jesus contrasts the pagan with us who have a Heavenly Father.  The pagans have no sense of a Heavenly Father so they have to literally fend for themselves.  Like orphans they have to seek after what they will eat, drink, wear and for the roof over their heads.  Perhaps we are all guilty of this kind of worry at some point in our lives but to live in it is going against Jesus express command: 'Do not worry'

The antidote for this kind of pagan worry, I believe, is to develop our relationship as 'sons' of God.  Many Christians pray the Lord's prayer (Our Father who is in Heaven....) without really understanding that we are in fact children of the Almighty God, maker and owner of everything.  In the gospel of John it is written:

John 1:12-13 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

When we come to faith in Jesus we are born again and immediately become children of God.  The challenge though is to grow up as sons (sonship has nothing to do with gender, its for ladies too, it refers to our position in the family of God).  With the revelation of sonship and our understanding that the God of the Universe is our Daddy, our Father, our Abba, our Papa, paganism will die!

(Photo from: http://media.photobucket.com/image/christian%20pagan/jazzmantim3_2007/ThePaganChristian.jpg)
 
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