What You’re A Priest—A Stewardship Of Our Occupations
10/18/98 Exodus 31:1-12 1 Peter 2:4-12
What would happen if your were in the army and your commanding officer told you, “we want to send you in on a mission behind enemy lines to rescue some of the prisoners who have been captured. You are to live in the enemy’s camp and gain their confidence, but you are to never forget your true mission. We’re sending you in to rescue others. But for us to be able to be able to identify you, we want you to keep wearing our blue uniform and not their green ones.” Now your know you’re going to fail, because the other side will recognize you immediately by the color of your uniform.
Well according to the Scriptures, we are soldiers in God’s army and God has sent every one of us on a mission to rescue some of the prisoners that He has determined to set free. Now as soldiers in the army of God we have a special place. For our Scripture text stated, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out darkness into his wonderful light.
Tell the person next to you, “we are God’s chosen people,” and “we are all members of the royal priesthood.” Now by making us members of the royal priesthood, God has made us all priests. Now a priest is a person who has been set apart for God’s use and who has open access to the presence of the God. A priest is one who acts as a representative before God on behalf of others. As believers in Christ, we have been set apart by God, we are able to approach the throne of God at anytime, and we pray on behalf of those around us.
However some of us shudder at the idea of being a priest and we know what it would do to our reputations if others thought of us as a priests. If you go to work tomorrow and tell your fellow workers, “I found out yesterday at church, that I’m a priest”, would they say, “You—a priest or would they say You a Priest.”
Have you ever been in a group and a minister walks into the room, and somebody says hello Rev. Jackson. By saying Rev real loudly, its an announcement to everybody else to watch what your language because a Rev. is in the room. Now being a priest is not something you get to stop being. Whether you’re in the church, at the dinner table, at the football game or whatever, your behavior points back to the reality that you’re a priest. It’s not your location which makes you a priest, but your calling by God.
Now God knows that if he sent us all out with the title of priest and a black suit and collar, most of us would have people running away from us left and right. But God still wanted us to carry out the mission of rescuing others from the enemy. So in order to equip us for the work He call us to do, God filled us with His Spirit to provide us with the wisdom and the knowledge which would be necessary to get the job done.
Have you ever gone to a mechanic and after telling them about your problem the mechanic said something like, “Well, it could be this, and it might be that, but then again this other thing over here might be problem. I’m just going to have to fool around with a couple of things and I hope to find out which one is what it is.” Yet there are other mechanics who you said the exact same thing to and the mechanic replied, “I can tell you right now, your problem is your fuel pump is not working properly.” There are some people with an exceptional ability to do a job well.
When we think of the outpouring of God’s spirit, we usually connect the outpouring with miracles, healings, people speaking in tongues and prophesying , and with people being slain in the Spirit. However, God’s Spirit fills a person to equip a person with the ability to do the work God has called the person to do. The work could be as a mechanic or as a counselor. When created each of us, God created us with a specific task in mind for the purposes of God.
The prophet Jeremiah was attempting to explain to God, why He could not carry out the mission God had for him to do. Jeremiah said, “Oh Lord, I’m too young to do this. You need somebody with more experience. I’m even afraid to try to do it. God told him, “Before I formed you in your mother’s womb, I knew you and what your potential was, Before you were born, I had already appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.”
Just as God called Jeremiah to be a prophet from birth for God’s purpose, God has called some of us to work His purposes in other areas. The children of Israel had come out of Egypt. They had been slaves for 430 years. Moses, who had spent the first 40 years of his life living in luxury and the next 40 struggling in the desert, was leading the people of God. God said, “Moses, now I want you to build a tabernacle for me. The measurements must be exact. The design is to be very artistic. I want you to use gold and silver to make numerous designs.
The wood must be of the right type, color, and quality. The cloth must be woven perfectly. All of the pieces must fit in place and it must be versatile enough to be set up, taken down, and set up again where ever I choose to set up camp. You are to be sure to make it exactly as I have given instructions down to the last detail.”
Now if I was Moses, I would have been pretty discouraged. I would have said, “God what you’re talking about is going to require architects, jewelers, seamstress, lumber men, potters, blacksmiths, people who know how to dye material, supervisors, log carriers, carpenters, and a whole lot more. Don’t you know we’re a group of slaves coming out of Egypt.” How often have we made the mistake of looking at ourselves, and seeing far less than God sees in what God has to work with. It would scare us to death if we knew what we could accomplish, if we totally surrendered ourselves to the Spirit of God and Have God’s Spirit poured out upon us.
God told Moses, “Moses you don’t know who is in the group you’re leading, but I do. There is a fellow by the name of Bezalel, his dad’s name is Uri, and his grandfather grandfather was Hur, from the tribe of Judah. Now I chose him to lead this project long before you all left Egypt. For I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of crafts. I have made him a jeweler and a sculpturer who can make things out of gold, silver, bronze, stones, wood and anything else you can imagine.
Not only that, there’s another fellow by the name of Oholiab who was Ahisamach’s boy from the tribe of Dan to help him. In addition to that, I have given them both the ability to teach others. Furthermore I am filling others of my people with the skill to do work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine line, and weavers—all of them master craftsman and designers.
When we think of God raising up people to make a difference, we often think of Moses, David, Queen Esther, and the Apostle Paul. But everyday God is raising up people to carry out His purposes. When we do the purposes of God, we are making a difference. In the building of the tabernacle God poured out His Spirit on the architects, the seamstress, the jewelers, the teachers and the laborers. Why is one person so gifted in a profession? It is because God gave them the skill and the ability for a purpose which is to declare the praises of God.
Why are you teacher, a counselor, a custodian, or a security guard. Why are you a vice president, a secretary, or a student? Why are you a laborer, a lawyer, or an educator? Why are you a builder, a bus driver, a singer, or an athlete? Why are you child care provider, a lawyer, a doctor, a nurse, or an accountant? Why are you a social worker, a banker, a teller, or a clerk? Why are you a retiree, a postal worker, a health care worker, or a government employee.
It’s because God has a plan and a purpose for your life. Your position is not something you own, but rather it is the tool God has given you to use to rescue others from the kingdom of darkness. In the same way God has extended His mercy to us, God seeks to give it to those around us.
Remember this, your first calling is to be a priest for God. But God knows that others will not listen to a priest, so he disguised you in jobs and professions. It does not matter to God what others may designate you as. Others may say, that’s Mary whose a great volleyball player, but God says to the angels, did you see how my priest represented me on the court today.
Others may say, that’s Bob the custodian. But God says did you see what a great job my priest did for me today. I gave him the skill to clean and maintain a building like that. Others may say that’s Mrs. Johnson the principal behind that desk. But God says, they may have voted prayer out of the school, but look at my priest sitting their in the top spot representing me well in the work she does. Like my servant Daniel, you can’t find anything shaky or shady in the way she runs her school.
Your job or your status as a student is part of the stewardship you will give an account to God for one day. God has you in a place to make a difference for Him. You know, Joseph never preached a sermon, but we admire him because of the way he behaved on the job. Daniel was not known during his time for holding great crusades and revivals, but he earned the respect of kings and kingdoms because of the way, he behaved on his job. When Jesus wanted to stress the importance of being prepared for His second coming, Jesus quite often used stories about a person’s behavior on the job. He commended those people who took their jobs seriously, and whether the boss was in a city far away or in the room with them, they did their jobs well.
How you’re doing in school today, or how well you work is determining whether God will be able to complete the good work He has for your life. Just suppose for a moment, what if when Joseph had been sold as a slave, he decided to do as all the other slaves. What if on his first day on the job, he had chosen as a role model the slave who said, “Man, I’m going to do just enough to get by and stay out of trouble.”
I’m sure as a 17 year old, his first job didn’t look like much. But he worked so well at it, he was noticed and before long he was at the top in Potipher’s house. Whatever job Joseph had, he gave it his best and was willing to stay there until God opened up something else. Good stewardship includes serving God there on the job. The Word of God says employees and employers are both working for God whether they are aware of it or not, and God is going to hold them both accountable for what takes place on the job.
You see as God’s priest, you are always on the time clock. God has created us so that we fit into a certain place. The job we have today, may only be for today or it may be for a lifetime. But if we are not in the place God has for us, we will not feel the joy that God promises us in our work. Some of you enjoy what you do in life, because that’s what God made you to be. There is no doubt in my mind, I was created to be a pastor. I recognize there are other things I could not and make a lot more money, but I know I would not be content or happy with my life.
In the movie Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell is a Christian who feels called to go the mission field. Yet he discovers also that God has given him the gift to run very quickly. He’s fast enough to be in the Olympics. His family was so afraid if used the gift from God to become a great athlete and possibly Olympic champion, he would forget about going to China as a missionary.
Eric told them, yes God has called me to go to China and I will go. But God also made me fast for a purpose. I feel God’s pleasure when I run. We ought to be able to feel God’s pleasure in the work we do. So often we try to make God so spiritual in what God expects of us. Yet God gives us gifts which could be used as effectively as any pulpit. Those of you whom God has gifted as athletes, musicians and singers, use those gifts for God’s honor and glory, but don’t leave out God simply to use the gifts. Keep in mind you’re God’s priest and you need to be renewed by the life of the church.
Those of us with gifts in our various occupations, must likewise use those gifts for God’s honor and glory. No gift should take you away from the people of God. If you have a schedule that never allows you to be in church, you need to find another job or be diligent in looking to go to a church which fits into your time schedule. Some of you may be unhappy in your jobs. It may be, you’re not in the place God wants you to be. Don’t say, I could never change where I am. All of us can change, because some times change will be forced upon us. Just because you won’t leave your job, does not mean your job will not leave you.
If God has a calling on your life for you to be something else, God will equip you with the ability and the resources to make it happen. There will be sacrifices to be made on your part. You may have to eat less, move to a cheaper place, let go things you have been accustomed to having, and getting rid of certain friends. We can talk all we want to about what we want to have. But we will have, what we prefer to have. Because as long as we prefer to not pay the cost, we will have what we truly want. If we go through life hating the job we have, we’re missing out on God’s blessings. Decide today to make a change. For the Scriptures tell us in Ecclesiastes, it is the gift of God for a person to enjoy the good of all his work.
It’s more difficult being a priest in a job you do not like than it is to be one in the job God has created for you. Each of us has a mission to accomplish for God. We find it in 1 Peter 2:12 where the word of God tells us, Live such good lives among the unbelievers that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day God visits us. You see God never intended for us to completely get away from people who are not saved. God gives us jobs, teams, and opportunities to reach out to other people by the way we do what we do.
The words good life means a life that is honorable, righteous, pure, lovely, decent, excellent, upright, and noble. It means a life that is without blame, that cannot be justly or accurately blamed with any sin or evil. The world watches a genuine believer to see if he/she really lives what he or she professes. How often have we heard it said, “she claims to be a Christian but there ain’t nothing to her. She lies about her sick days and funeral days like the rest of us. She was sick all right. Sick at the mall cause she had reached the limit on her credit card.” “He claims to be saved, but he cheats on his time card like everybody else.”
Fellow priests: Somebody is looking at us. Therefore, we must live honest lives, lives that are just what we profess: holy, righteous, and pure. Note two reasons why:
1. Unbelievers speak evil of believers. Some will always speak evil of genuine believers. If a person really lives for Christ, his or her righteous and self-denying life convicts those who love the world and its pleasures and possessions. Therefore, they talk about, joke, mock, ridicule, abuse, and persecute the believer when they can.
The point is this: the believer must never add fuel to the fire. We must never give the world a chance to justly accuse and down us. As priest, we can’t give in to every feeling that’s going to make us feel good or be an easier way out for us. Our call is to live honest lives before our God, doing exactly what we proclaim and profess.
Unbelievers must have a chance to be saved. If we live dishonest and sinful lives trying to fit in with the group, then we’re going against all that we proclaim and stand for. Then unbelievers will know we are hypocrites. A hypocrite is somebody who is not himself of herself on Sunday. Our fellow workers or students will not be attracted to Christ. We must, therefore, live for Christ and do good works. When unbelievers see our righteous lives and good works, they will experience the day of God’s visitation and glorify God. When we take our role seriously as priest, we’re going to reach a lot more people for God, and we’re going to experience God’s blessings in ways we have never know it before.
File MW “What You A Priest”
