YOU ARE A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD!

Transcription

1 YOU KNOW YOU ARE A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD!

2 The cover image of this Bible Studies gives us an operating definition of Priesthood - which is: The Priesthood is the Power and Authority of God & The Power and Authority of God THAT GOD GIVES TO MAN to act in all things necessary. As a Christian, it is incumbent and our obligation to know that we have each been given the Power and Authority from God to act in the capacity as anointed Priest before Him. 1 Pet. 2:5 and 2:9 tells us: 2:5 you 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. 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: The word Priesthood used in these two passages is ἱεράτευμα hierateuma; meaning, the office of a Priest. Being a Priest or having a Priesthood before and unto God, can only come by way of appointment and anointing by God. Ex. 29:1-7 This is what you are to do to consecrate them, so they may serve me as priests: Then bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance to the tent of meeting and wash them with water. Put the turban on his head and attach the sacred emblem to the turban. Take the anointing oil and anoint him by pouring it on his head. Ex. 30:30 Anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so they may serve me as priests. Lev. 16:32 The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest is to make atonement. He is to put on the sacred linen garments. Being a Priest is an appointed and anointed office to the service of God. The Hebrew word for כּ ה נּ ה ḵôhên; which literally means, one officiating; and the word Priesthood is כּ ה ן Priest is ḵehunâ; the office of Priest; such as, the Office of the President or the Office of the Governor. It is an election of office to the administration of duties, to and on behalf of the people. Royal Priesthood by Bruce Hadley 1

3 So, a Priest is one selected, appointed and anointed by God to the office of acting on religious matters, offering gifts and sacrifices unto God. A Priest is one who, day after day performs religious duties before God. Only those, who were appointed and anointed were allowed to act in this office or capacity. We see this description of a Priest and Priesthood in Heb. 5:1-4 and Heb. 10:11 Heb. 5:1-4 Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was. Heb. 10:11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices. Now, in the Old dispensation or Old Testament time, there were only a chosen few who received this anointing from the Holy Spirit. However, in the New dispensation or New Testament, we who are born again of the Spirit, by the Holy Spirit, were given the anointing of the Priesthood. Titus 3:5b says: He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. If you noticed, we received washing, just as Aaron and the other Priest received, but our washing is far superior, because it s a washing of the soul. Further, we received not only a birth of the Holy Spirit but an anointing, as the Priest of Old times. 1 John 2:20 & 27 tells us, 20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. 27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, With the bringing of the New Covenant or New Testament brought with it a New Dispensation, the Church-age of people chosen of God, appointed, anointed and given the authority and power by God to be His Priest, to administer the duties of Priesthood before Him. Rev. 1:5-6 and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. Rev. 5:9-10 And they sang a new song, saying: You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language Royal Priesthood by Bruce Hadley 2

4 and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth. The word kingdom is basileia βασιλεία, ας, ἡ, which means sovereignty, authority. Meaning, we have been given authority to serve as Priest before His sovereignty. If you notice verses Rev. 1:6 & 5:10 says, and has made us to be and You have made them to be. Being born again through and by the Holy Spirit, we have been made a holy Priesthood appointed and anointed. So, whether you want to or not; like it or not; if you are a born again believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are a Holy Priest; you have the duties of Priesthood before God. Going to Church on Sunday, maybe Bible Study on Wednesday, a couple hours here and couple hours there, listening to this Bible study, has relatively little significance on your relationship with God. Hearing preaching and teaching is for our edification to equip us for our service unto God. So, going to Church and Bible study are intermittent and casual, our relationship with God is to be intimate and continuous. The pastor, preacher or teacher is not in your relationship with God, only you are. The preaching and teaching are simply for your edification as a means to assist you with instructions to help you grow in your administrations of your own holy priesthood before God. This is why Scripture tells us, we each are like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices unto God. (1 Pet. 2:5). We are to offer our own spiritual sacrifices unto God, which is our reasonable duty, and God will accept nothing less. As Christians, many of us like quoting: 1 Cor. 3:16 says, Don t you know that you yourselves are God s temple and that God s spirit dwells in your midst? 2 Cor. 6:16 says, What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. We are now armed with better knowledge of what that means, being God s temple, being the temple of the living God. These passages have less to do with your body which will perish and more to do with actually being a Temple of God ; and, guess what, a Holy temple must have a Priest that attends to the temple s duties. HELLO! You claim your body is the temple of God. Then administer to the duties of the temple, act in the Priesthood he appointed and anointed you too, offer unto Him gifts and sacrifices! Rom. 12:1-2 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to Royal Priesthood by Bruce Hadley 3

5 this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. If you notice the beginning of Rom. 12:1, Paul beseeches, meaning urges us, begs us, in the view of God s mercy, to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God. Paul at the end of verse 12:1, he says, it s our reasonable service. The meaning of sacrifice is: 1. the offering of animal, plant, or human life or of some material possession to a deity, to pay homage; and 2. a thing so surrendered or devoted for propitiation (to appease or conciliate) usually for a wrong. Roman s 12:1 says we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God, as a means of paying homage (worship) to Him. First off, do you think God wants your body? God doesn t want your body, per se exercising, not eating fat or sugar. No drinking or smoking. Watching your figure, etc. No, what it means is present your whole self, mind, heart and soul unto God, - (Matt. 22:37-38: Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. ) - that s why it s a living sacrifice. It s the giving of yourself to God. We have nothing to offer God but ourselves, which He created us anyway. That s why it s our reasonable service. So, our offering is ourselves, meaning our time, our mind and our heart as a gift, an offering unto God. This is the meaning behind Rom. 12:1, why Paul begs us to offer ourselves as gifts to God - I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. A light should have gone off in you by now. Not only do we have nothing to offer God but ourselves, God Himself, chose, appointed and anointed each of us to serve before Him as Priest. God provided each of us with our very own Priesthood to administer gifts and sacrifices unto Him. Amen and Hallelujah! No one else can be a Priest before God on your behalf. One may exercise their Priesthood in offering prayers up for you, but they can t stand in your place, or in the Gap for you, before God, as was in the Old Dispensation. No, you have been given the right to enter unto the Throne of Grace (Heb. 4:16). This is why Paul begs, urges us, by the mercies of God, that we should do your reasonable service in our office of Priesthood for our temple and offering sacrifice unto God. Now, since we now know what it means to have a Royal Priesthood before God, what is the basic foundation of our Priesthood? Royal Priesthood by Bruce Hadley 4

6 First, with the understanding, our Priesthood is to our own lives for our own sacrifices and duties before God; therefore, each person s function may vary in the administration of their Priesthood. However, the primary directive for each of us is to represent in spiritual matters before God, to offering gifts and sacrifices, daily. This is the basic protocol for every Christians Priesthood. Let s look at these basic protocols of our Priesthood. 1. Offering gifts unto God. Rom. 12:1, tells us that we should offer ourselves as living sacrifices unto God, which is our reasonable service, and the end of Rom. 12:1 transitions right into Rom. 12:2: be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed through the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. The word mind is the Greek word νοῦς nous. This word has to do with the collective function of our intellect; which entails our thoughts, emotions and volition (our will). The Scriptures, Old and New, has no word for brain. Scripture only speaks to the mind of man, his νοῦς nousthoughts, emotions and volition. Our νοῦς nous is what makes up an individual life; i.e., the way I think, my feeling and my volition or will. My mind is what makes me, me my- life. Rom. 12:1 says that I am to offer myself as a living sacrifice, which is my reasonable service, as Rom. 12:2 tells me that I do this by transforming through the renewing of my νοῦς nous. By renewing my mind (myself), away from the things of this world, to the things of God, I am able to prove what is that good and acceptable perfect will of God to and in my life. Meaning, I am coming to know what God wants for my life, so that, I may offer it unto Him. See, in renewing my νοῦς nous to the will of God, I am offering myself unto God all my mind, my feelings and my soul Matt. 22: The offering of my time, my mind and feelings should be my daily gift offering to God. 2. Sacrifice sin offering Now, you re thinking, how am I a to offer a sacrifice for sin, since Christ died for me as the Lamb of God for the remission of sin, and there is no requirement or need for me to offer any sacrifice for sin? Yes, your correct. However, grace is the very foundation of our priesthood. Grace is the work of God, not the work of man. Under the policy of Devine grace, we are to execution of God s designed plan of the offering of sacrifice for sin. What is that you may ask? Confession of sin! As appointed and anointed Priest, we are to offer the sacrifice for sin, that is a Priest primary duty, to offer sacrifice for sin. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Royal Priesthood by Bruce Hadley 5

7 This is a priestly function towards God - acknowledge [admit, cite, name, confess] our sins. This passage has nothing to do with pre-salvation sins it s post-salvation sins we are to offer the sacrifice of confession for our sins. Naming our sins before and accepting His forgiveness is our first function as Royal Priest. These to protocols are the basic foundation for our Royal Priesthood, but not conclusive of our Priesthood. As we draw closer to the Lord, we begin discover other duties, gifts and sacrifices we are to offer unto the Lord, but the administration of these are different for each person. So, we will address this in another Bible study. However, why many of us do not operate in our own Priesthood is because of our base thinking not being transformed to the word of God to execute His plan of Grace for our lives. When one does not know God's plan, they substitute their own plan and stay conformed to the world. The power that executes the Christian way of life is the omnipotence of God the Holy Spirit. None of us are capable of executing the Christian way of life in and of ourselves, it's impossible! The whole point of the Christian way of life is that it must be executed by God's power, it is not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord. (Zech. 4:6). The Christian way of life is a supernatural way of life that can only be executed by the Holy Spirit working in and through our faith; and as such, this is why we are told that we are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. As a Royal Priest of our own Holy temples, we represent ourselves before God. Being a Christian is what God made us, it is therefore God who sustains us. We do not achieve Spiritual growth by works, or anything we can do, or any system we can put in place. Spirituality is the work of God. So, in coming to the understanding of our Priesthood, we understand that Grace is the very foundation of our Priesthood. God did it, we did nothing and can do nothing to add to His wonderful works. Grace is the work of God, not the work of man that we are appointed and anointed as Priest before Him. We have to have faith in God, His word and His way. Nothing depends on our ability as believers. God can bless the worst Christian as well as the best Christian because of His attributes. Divine blessings come from His grace which excludes any form of human merit, human works, self-righteousness, feelings, emotions or any other activity of man. This is our Royal Priesthood! Royal Priesthood by Bruce Hadley 6