PRIESTS OF THE KINGDOM: STANDING IN THE GAP
Rev. 5: 10
Sermon Objective: The Church serves as “Priests of the Kingdom” by standing in the gap between the lost and God.
REV. 5:6-10
6Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7He came and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9And they sang a new song: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.
10You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth."
INTRO
We began discussing the priesthood of the believer a couple of weeks back. I think a better description, at least from the vantage point of The Revelation is “the priesthood of the Church.”
In any respect we discovered:
1. It has always been God’s plan for His covenant people to be priests to the nations.
a. In the Old Testament (which means “covenant” by the way) Israel was designed by God for this ministry. While speaking to the nomadic Israelites through Moses (Exodus 19:5-6) YHWH said, “Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation …” (emphasis added).
b. This desire / intent carried over into the new covenant too. In 1Peter 2, Peter says, “5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 9… 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.”
2. Being a priest means, in large part, that we represent God to humankind. We are His ambassadors or representatives; to use another image.
a. We do this by our lifestyle
b. We do this by our proclamation of God’s available atonement
BUT THERE IS ANOTHER IMPORTANT ASPECT TO OUR PRIESTHOOD. NOT ONLY DO WE REPRESENT GOD TO HUMANKIND … WE STAND BEFORE GOD ON HUMANKIND’S BEHALF.
This aspect of the priesthood is as important as the other and deserves attention this morning.
The Bible speaks of God’s people “standing in the gap.” Humanity is fallen and in need of restoration. Our sinfulness creates a separation; a chasm if you will, that the redeemed covenant people are qualified and required to span. Yes, of course, this span was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ who is the mediator between us and God but, we, on behalf of humanity stand at the ready to intercede and stay God’s wrath.
In Ezekiel 22 God says,
29 The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery; they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the alien, denying them justice.
30 "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. 31 So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD."
It is a privilege and a responsibility to stand before God on behalf of humankind.
And it is a privilege and responsibility that you, as a Christian, will be held accountable for whether you like it or not.
So let’s unpack these two opportunities that you and I have as Priests of the Kingdom.
Let’s see what is involved in standing in the gap.
AS PRIESTS BEFORE GOD WE:
I) INTERCEDE FOR THE SOULS OF HUMANITY.
The Bible is full of people who interceded for others.
Abraham interceded for Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18)
26 The LORD said, "If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake."
27 Then Abraham spoke up again: "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, 28 what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city because of five people?"
"If I find forty-five there," he said, "I will not destroy it."
29 Once again he spoke to him, "What if only forty are found there?"
He said, "For the sake of forty, I will not do it."
30 Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak. What if only thirty can be found there?"
He answered, "I will not do it if I find thirty there."
31 Abraham said, "Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty can be found there?"
He said, "For the sake of twenty, I will not destroy it."
32 Then he said, "May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?"
He answered, "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it."
33 When the LORD had finished speaking with Abraham, he left, and Abraham returned home.
Moses interceded for Israel (Deuteronomy 9)
13 And the LORD said to me, "I have seen this people, and they are a stiff-necked people indeed! 14 Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they." … 18 Then once again I fell prostrate before the LORD for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the LORD's sight and so provoking him to anger. 19 I feared the anger and wrath of the LORD, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you. But again the LORD listened to me.
American history tells of missionary saints who interceded for those of this land too.
In answer to the question, "What can be done to revive the work of God where it has decayed?" John Wesley once said, "Let every preacher read carefully the life of David Brainerd."
One of the many who heeded Wesley's counsel was William Carey, and God used Brainerd's life story to open Carey's eyes to the need of all races everywhere and to fire his heart with a passion to speed the gospel to "the uttermost part." It was chiefly the reading of the story of Brainerd's heroic missionary labors that caused Robert McCheyne to become the Apostle to the Jews.
David Brainerd was known as “The apostle to the Indians.” He served as a missionary to the Indians from 1739 to 1747.
After three years of study at Yale Divinity School, Brainerd followed his call and made his way to the Indians in Kaunaumeek, New York – a particularly ferocious Indian tribe living in the dense forests of the "Forks of the Delaware."
He arrived near their camp late one evening and decided to spend the night in the woods before introducing himself the next morning. He didn’t realize that several red men had been following him for hours. Once he was settled in the scouts made their way back to their camp and reported to the chief.
That night, the Indians planned to kill this white man because, up until now, the white man had brought them nothing but grief. The warriors silently drew near Brainerd’s camp and what they saw was an image they would see many more times in the coming years … Brainerd was on his knees praying for them. According to their report, while he prayed a rattlesnake squirmed up to him, lifted its head, flicks its forked tongue close to his face, and then, for no apparent reason, glided away into the darkness.
This made the chief and the warriors nervous and instead of killing him they returned to their campsite.
When the young missionary entered the Indian village early the next morning, he received a much more cordial welcome than he had anticipated. It wasn’t until later that he learned of the strange events of the preceding night.
When the Indians gathered around him in an open place among the wigwams, he opened his Bible, read from the 53rd chapter of Isaiah and tenderly told the story of how God sent His Son to die on the cross that He might take away the sin from people's hearts and make them His children.
This was a message and text the Indians would hear many more times and, from their first encounter, they warmly received Brainerd’s message.
Almost every page of Brainerd's diary tells how he "endured hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." His sufferings, caused by a diseased and weakened constitution, were intensified by the rigors of his life among the Indians and his arduous travels through the wilderness.
His ministry centered on the forks of the Delaware and extended through wide areas of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He served the Indians until his death in 1747, at the home of Jonathan Edwards.
Brainerd sowed the gospel seeds and watered them with his prayers and tears. He chose to stand in the gap for the Indians.
(From http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/biobrainerd2.html -- edited for brevity)
Have you been called to stand in the gap? Do you have lost or prodigal loved ones?
• It is a family member?
• Is it a co-worker?
• Is it a neighbor?
Regardless, your “apostleship” and priesthood begins and includes interceding on their behalf.
I can’t remember where I got the following paragraph (s) but it speaks volumes; allow me to read it to you.
The place where intercessory prayer must start is with you. It's great to know that others may be stepping up for someone before God, but God wants you to put something of yourself on the line. Otherwise, it's too cheap to be real. Your private devotions are not just for your own benefit. If God's love is at work in you, you will care about others, and your love for them will lead you to take it to the ultimate source of strength, healing, and love. Don't be fearful; be persistent and stubborn. God doesn't mind; God likes to see divine love at work in you. God honors your part in the relationship.
Don't be surprised if the Spirit starts tugging on your heart to take some sort of action about a matter you're praying about. You may be the answer God sends into their lives. That's not a license to be a buttinski, stepping into everyone's private lives like some sort of conquering hero. But the Spirit might be calling you to be more than a bystander. Be ready for it. When you intercede, bring your knowledge, gifts, abilities, attention and energies before God and say, 'use these, if that's what it takes to set this right'.
AS PRIESTS BEFORE GOD WE:
I) Intercede for the Souls of Humanity.
II) STAY GOD’S WRATH AND EXTEND THE OPPORTUNITY FOR MERCY.
Jesus says we are “the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5). One trait of that salt, that is illustrated in the Bible, is our capacity to stay God’s wrath for others; to grant them extended time to receive His mercy.
This is what Moses did in Deuteronomy 9.
This is may be what Stephen did, even as they were stoning him in Acts7: 59While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 60Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.
You never know what effect your prayers are having or what catastrophe you are preventing in the lives you are accountable for. In his book, “Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire”, Jim Cymbala tells the story of his wayward daughter, Chrissy. I want to read you an edited portion of that story.
[O]ne November, I was alone in Florida when I received a call from a minister whom I had persuaded Chrissy to talk to. “ Jim,” he said, “ I love you and your wife, but the truth of the matter is , Chrissy’s going to do what Chrissy’s going to do. You don’t really have much choice, now that she’s eighteen. She’s determined. You’re going to have to accept whatever she decides.”
I hung up the phone. Something very deep within me began to cry out. “Never! I will never accept Chrissy being away from you, Lord!” I knew that if she continued on the present path, there would be nothing but destruction awaiting her.
… God strongly impressed me to stop crying, screaming, or talking to anyone else about Chrissy. I was to converse with no one but God. In fact, I knew I should have no further contact with Chrissy- until God acted! I was just to believe and obey what I had preached so often “Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will answer you.”
… I began to pray with an intensity and growing faith as never before. Whatever bad news I would receive about Chrissy, I kept interceding and actually began praising God for what I knew he would do soon. I made no attempts to see her. ...
February came. One cold Tuesday night during the prayer meeting, I talked from Acts 4 about the church boldly calling on God in the face of persecution. We entered into a time of prayer, everyone reaching out to the Lord simultaneously.
An usher handed me a note. A young woman whom I felt to be spiritually sensitive had written: “Pastor Cymbala, I feel impressed that we should stop the meeting and all pray for your daughter.”
I hesitated. Was it right to change the flow of the service and focus on my personal need?
Yet something in the note seemed to ring true. In a few minutes I picked up a microphone and told the congregation what had just happened. “The truth of the matter, although I haven’t talked much about it, is that my daughter is very far from God these days. She thinks up is down, and down is up; dark is light, and light is dark. But I know God can break through to her, and so I’m going to ask Pastor Boekstaaf to lead us in praying for Chrissy. Let’s all join hands across the sanctuary.” As my associate began to lead the people, I stood behind him with my hand on his back. My tear ducts had ran dry, but I prayed as best I knew.
… Thirty-two hours later, on Thursday morning as I was shaving, Carol suddenly burst through the door, her eyes wide. “Go downstairs!” she blurted. “Chrissy’s here.”
“Chrissy’s here?”
“Yes! Go down!”
“But Carol-I”
“Just go down,” She urged. “It’s you she wants to see.”
I wiped off the shaving foam and headed down the stairs, my heart pounding. As I came around the corner, I saw my daughter on the kitchen floor, rocking on her hands and knees, sobbing. Cautiously I spoke her name:
“Chrissy?”
She grabbed my pant leg and began pouring out her anguish. “Daddy-Daddy-I’ve sinned against God. I’ve sinned against myself. I’ve sinned against you and Mommy. Please forgive me.”
My vision was as clouded by tears as hers. I pulled her up from the floor and held her close as we cried together.
Suddenly she drew back. “Daddy,” she said with a start, “who was praying for me? …
“What do you mean, Chrissy?”
“On Tuesday night, Daddy, who was praying for me?” I didn’t say anything, so she continued: “In the middle of the night, God woke me and showed me I was heading toward this abyss. There was no bottom to it-it scared me to death. I was so frightened. I realized how hard I’ve been, how wrong, how rebellious. But at the same time, it was like God wrapped his arms around me and held me tight. He kept me from sliding any further as he said, ‘I still love you.’” …
I looked into her bloodshot eyes, and once again I recognized the daughter we had raised. (pp. 62-65)
Wrap-Up
I think that is more than enough for today.
Jesus said the second greatest commandment is to “love your neighbor as yourself.”
AS A PRIEST, YOU ARE CALLED TO STAND IN THE GAP. INTERCESSION AND PRESERVATION ARE THE CALL OF THE DAY.
Are you?
I am still asking God to give me the names of three NEW people who need to know Him as Savior and to allow me to bring them to faith.
Are you asking God for three new names too?
“I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.” (Ezekiel 22:30)
HE WHO HAS AN EAR, LET HIM HEAR WHAT THE SPIRIT SAYS TO THE CHURCHES. (REV. 2:7)
This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene
Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
