A Kingdom of Priests
Adrian Warnock
Jubilee Church
A Kingdom of Priests
* To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. (Rev 1:5-6, ESV)
A Kingdom of Priests
* "Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” (Rev 5:9-10, ESV)
A Kingdom of priests
* What is a priest?
* Priests through the ages
* We are
* the temple of God
* the reflected face of God
* the arms of God
* Our response
What is a priest?
* Intermediary between God and man
* Temple was out of bounds for all but a few priests
* Offered sacrifices to God
* Carried the ark, the symbol of God’s presence
The Temple- open for all
* When Jesus died curtain was ‘torn in two from top to bottom’ so all can come into presence of God (Mat 27:51)
* But did they fix the curtain?
Middle Ages
* Special priests ‘Fathers’
* Bible only available in Latin
* The church amassed money and power & persecuted opponents
* Gross error taught- give us your money and you will be saved (nothing new under the sun!)
Reformation
* ‘The doctrine of the priesthood of all believers’
* Bible available to all- to judge the teachings of the church
* But ‘The Pastor’ substituted for ‘The Priest’
Don’t call anyone ‘Pastor’
* But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted. (Mt 23.5-12)
The Brethren
* Rediscovered ‘body ministry’
* Open participatory worship
* Churches lead by elders
* No full time workers
* Lack of leadership
Restoration churches
* Leaders who serve
* A group of elders one of whom leads
* Relationships between churches for accountability
* Participation of all church members in ministry
Are you equipped for ministry?
* And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God (Eph 4:10-13)
How are we to be equipped*
* All these ministries function primarily by preaching & teaching. Preaching aims to equip us to do the acts God is calling us to do
* It was said of Finney ’When he opened his mouth it was like aiming a gun, when he began to speak the bombardment began!’
* ’disturb the comfortable & comfort the disturbed’
* God only had one son and he made him a preacher!
How are we to be equipped
* You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house ……remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. (Acts 20:20,31)
* Teaching is public, from house to house and 1:1
* We are changed by the people we spend time with
* Character is more important than gifting
We are the temple of God
* 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……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 marvellous light. (1 Peter 2:5-10, ESV).
We are the temple of God
* We are God’s dwelling place on earth
* We together bring the presence of God
* Which stones are you next to*
* Don’t be jealous of others who seem more connected than you
* Seek God for closer relationships for the purpose of bringing glory to Him
* Reach out to the many, expect real closeness with a few
* Don’t wait for others to reach out to you
The face of God (2 Cor 3:7-18)
* Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious* If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!
The face of God (2 Cor 3:7-18)
* For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away…..
The face of God
* And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Cor 3:18)
* Christian literally means little Christ -people will only usually only encounter Jesus through us
* ’The church should reach out more’, well YOU are the church.
The arms of God
* 3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. (2 Cor 1:3-4)
* ‘We have spoken freely to you Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you. We are not withholding our affection from you’ (2 Cor 6:11-12)
* We must receive help from others and be willing to give help to others
* ‘Freely you have received, freely give’
The arms of God
* ‘She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy.’ (Prov 31:20)
* No matter your situation, there is always someone worse off than you, so you can help
* This will put your own problems into perspective
* You will also discover it is impossible to give without receiving much more in return
* ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’ (Acts 20:35)
Our response
* Not to be passengers but driving the progress of the church
* Not consumers but producers
* Not part of the problem but part of the solution
* Don’t ask what the church can do for you but what you can do for the church
* Don’t say ‘The Church really should be doing something.’- maybe YOU should be the one doing something. But be prepared for ‘no’ or ‘not yet’!
* Start making friendships with an edge
* In a growing church we are all needed to fulfil the mission
* We must desire service with our focus on how others feel we can help them not ‘My Ministry’.
* Ask elders or cell group leaders ‘How do you feel I can serve* ’ Serve even in areas that you don’t feel gifted if asked.
* We can all be exercising spiritual gifts...
* and demonstrating agape love - love for Jesus’ sake.
* You can’t choose your family
Three groups to respond
* Those who have been around a long time and do a lot- be encouraged & look for others to train and hand onto
* Those who have been around a while but still see self as consumers- its time to join the priesthood! Even the newest Christian can serve in some way
* The downtrodden used to having it all done for you- retrieve your dignity and seek ways to serve
What can I do*
* Everyone a leader in a glorious chain of discipleship- ‘What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also’ (2 Tim 2:2).
* Daniel Bedingfield’s statement of purpose - "To seek after truth and the Being who created this universe and to be as other-centred as I can.”
* We can all care for others
